Love: A Small Word With a Large Meaning
by midsummer station
Summary: She wakes up each morning, the memory of the strange boy with dark hair and amber eyes still drifting within her mind. She thinks he isn't real. But she knows deep inside he's really out there somewhere. Julia Stark, a simple girl from District 5, volunteers for the Hunger Games to escape from the nightmare she lives each day. She'll change in the arena. But how?
1. The Awakening

**Hey! This is my first fanfiction on here. It was actually written specifically for my friends on the Hunger Games wiki, but feel free to read and review it if you'd like! Reviews are greatly appreciated, especially constructive criticism – and note that by 'constructive' criticism, I don't mean rude or insulting comments. Thanks!**

_Dark. It's dark, so dark that I can barely see a thing. I feel my way around, occasionally bumping into walls or tripping and falling onto the ground face-first. But I always stand back up, and I continue to glance around, hoping to spot some sort of light source. I hold my hands up in front of my eyes. I can just barely see their outline, but once again, this room is filled to the ceiling with pitch black shadows and they're quite hard to see._

_I see a flame in the distance, and a gasp escapes my lips as I hurry over to it. My gray gaze never leaves the flickering flame. I reach it and hold my palms over it, sighing as it warms my skin and erases the goose bumps that had formed on my forearms. Just as I'm about to feel a little content despite that I'm still in a cell-like area, I feel cold fingers lock around my wrist and tug me away from the little golden flame. The figure shoves me across the room and I find myself tumbling down a flight of stairs, the edges of the wooden steps scraping against my elbows. I eventually plummet to the ground, my back meeting the cool metal floor, and I hear the flick of a light switch before the room brightens just a bit. I blink a few times, letting my eyes adjust, before I look around, still unsure as to where I am. I was right; this is like a cell. _Thump, thump. _My head jerks to the side. Someone is making their way down the stairs. So many pictures fill my mind; a psychotic killer, an evil scientist. I push myself up against the back wall of the cell, pulling my legs to my chest and wrapping my arms around my knees. The person reaches the bottom of the stairs, and my eyes widen a bit at who I see. He doesn't resemble a mad scientist or a murderer; no, he's just a simple boy, with dark hair that falls to his cheekbones and strange amber eyes that match the color of the flame. He reaches his hand out towards me and places it on my shoulder. His eyes wander around my face, as if he's examining each of the features and details._

_That's when I hear it. A scream. I'm not sure who the scream belonged to until I notice that my jaw is open and my eyes are nearly the size of marbles. The boy removes his hand, and looks at me with a confused expression. And then he screams as well, when the realization that he's in pain finally hits him. He slowly turns his head over his shoulder so that he can see the arrow that is sticking out of his back. He coughs a few times, spluttering out drops of dark red blood, before crumpling to the ground. My hands fly to my mouth and I bend down next to him, placing my palm over his heart. I can hear another person calling his name, someone that's nowhere near yet obviously close enough to shoot an arrow at the boy's back. I'm starting to feel dizzy and I don't hear them say his full name, but I can hear a C. A C or a K. And that's possibly what his name starts with._

_The boy probably might have died in this dream but as I begin to wake up, I have this strange sense that he's still out there, somewhere in the world, waiting for me._

The loud rumbling of thunder awakens me completely and I sit up, glands of sweat dripping off of my pale forehead. I run a hand through my wavy brunette hair before kicking my legs over the side of the bed and slowly standing up. The ground shakes a bit as the sound of thunder roars through the air again, and I glance out of the window, watching as thousands of raindrops fall quickly from the dark, cloudy sky and patter wildly against the ground. Lightning strikes in between the clouds, illuminating the sky for just a millisecond before it's once again dark. Sighing to myself, I push open my bedroom door and walk just a few steps before I'm standing in my living room. I reside in a very small house, as my parents and I live on the outskirts of District 5. We're not the poorest people in the district, but we're most certainly nowhere near being wealthy, either. I spot my dad sitting at the kitchen table, his eyes glued on the daily newspaper. My mom turns around the kitchen counter and walks over to me, holding two pieces of buttery toast. She hands them to me, her gaze softer than usual and a sad smile on her face. I then remember what day it is. It's reaping day. I sigh again. The thunder I hear seconds later also reminds me that its pouring outside; what perfect weather for a day like this.

I sit down at the kitchen table across from my dad and take a bite out of my toast, the freshly heated bread scorching the tip of my tongue. He sets down the newspaper and grins at me, his eyes bright with excitement. I try to ignore the bile that I feel rising in my throat and I resist the urge to look away from him. My father is a Hunger Games fanatic, and he admires the people who volunteer. He expects me to volunteer before I'm no longer eligible, and if I don't, then apparently, I will "no longer be his daughter". I can't even imagine what will happen to me and my mother if he finds out that we have been disgusted by the Hunger Games all along. My dad reaches his arm across the table and holds my hands, that repulsing smile still plastered on his tanned face. "Ah, reaping day," he says, almost dreamily, as he looks away from me and at my mother. "A wonderful day with an amazing opportunity. Too bad it's storming, but it's still a great day nonetheless." He glances back at me. "You better get all prettied up, Julia. The reapings start in about two hours."

I nod and shovel the last piece of the toast into my mouth, pushing the other piece towards my dad. I swallow the bread and say, "You have that piece. I'm... not that hungry." The truth is, I was pretty hungry, but I could get something to eat after the reapings. I just needed to get away from my father. He sickened me to the bone and I could barely look at him. I stood up from the table and hurried back into my room, shutting the door softly behind me as I entered. I sat down on the edge of my bed, folding my hands over my lap and staring up at the ceiling. I started to think about the dreams I've been having for the past year or so. The ones about the strange, dark-haired boy with the amber eyes. I don't know who he is or why I've been dreaming about him. Maybe he's just a figment of my imagination. Maybe I'm insane. But for some reason, I feel like that isn't true. I feel like that boy is out there somewhere. I lean backwards, rubbing my temples. Yeah, I'm crazy.

Suddenly, I hear something knocking on my window. I turn around and see two familiar faces at my window, drenched from head to toe in rainwater. I stare at my two best friends in disbelief and pry the window open for them. "What the hell, guys?" Jackie and Summer climb into the room, water dripping from their hair and staining the carpet below their feet. "Why did you come? And in the _pouring rain?_"

Summer leans against the wall, wrapping her hands around her dark blonde hair and wringing it dry. "We were bored," she tells me, as if that's the most logical excuse in the history of excuses. "We already got dressed and since our parents are both at work and we had nothing to do, we decided to come here." She shrugs and folds her arms over her chest, bright blue eyes blinking innocently. I raise an eyebrow, examining her soaked turquoise dress.

"Well, yeah, but you basically ruined your outfit coming here," I say. Summer rolls her eyes.

"Who cares? It's just the reaping." She flips her hair back over her shoulder. I sigh. I have OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, so I'm a bit irritated with the way Summer's dress is, but I try my best not to complain. I take a look at Jackie, who's made herself at home, with her head on the floor and her feet up on the side of my bed. She brushes her brunette hair out of her face and wipes her wet hands carelessly on her jeans. I sit down next to her and ask out of the blue, "Do you guys think I should volunteer this year?"

Immediately, Jackie sits up. She stares at me with utter disbelief. "What? No! Why would you want to volunteer?" Summer sits down on my other side. Her and Jackie both looked completely shocked that I would say something like that. I don't know why. They know that my dad wants me to.

"Guys, I'm going to have to volunteer eventually," I remind them. "Or else my dad will disown me or something." My two friends exchange uncertain glances, and Summer nods slowly.

"Well, yeah, but..." She shakes her head. "You can't volunteer this year. You're only fourteen. You haven't had enough training yet."

"I can learn how to fight at the training center before the Games begin. I get two days to practice. I would be fine."

"No, Julia!" I look at Jackie. She looks upset. "You can't volunteer. You can't just leave us!"

"Jackie..." She cries quietly into her hands, and I feel really bad. I didn't mean to hurt her. "But Jackie, I have to..."

"Why do you seem so willing to volunteer, anyways?" Summer seems less upset, but she still looks frustrated and a bit distraught.

"I..." I know exactly why I feel like I need to volunteer, but I'm scared to say it to them. I don't know what their reactions will be like. Jackie lifts her head up and wipes her eyes with the back of her hands, before they both look at me expectantly.

"Why, Julia?" Summer asks again, her voice quiet. I take a deep breath.

"I... Well..." I pause for a moment, before speaking again. "Well, you know how I'm bullied often by the popular girls at my school? How I'm humiliated and treated badly nearly each and every day?"

"Julia..." Summer sighs. She seems to know exactly where this is going. My arms and legs stiffen, and I start to feel a bit angry at the thought of my bullies. Yet this anger is just a form of my sadness. My depression. I try to fight the tears that threaten to fall.

"Don't _Julia _me," I hiss, standing up. Jackie and Summer stare up at me, their faces emotionless. I have breakdowns like this often, and they're used to them. They've gotten to the point where they allow me to rant, allow me to release my anger on them. They don't mind. They know I don't mean a word I say to them, if I'm seemingly rude to them. They just sit back and listen, and I appreciate that. Nonetheless, I begin speaking, my tone raised, loud enough to cause my friends to flinch but soft enough to keep myself unheard by my parents in the next room. "It's not my fault I feel this way. The only reason I'm volunteering is because of _them_, okay?" I take my forefinger and my thumb and pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyelids shut and letting an exasperated sigh escape my throat. "They bully me every day. They make me feel like I don't deserve to be on this earth. And I don't! I should give them what they want. I should go into the Hunger Games and end my life, because that would make them happy and put everyone else at peace."

"Why would you say that, Julia?" Jackie asks me. "Why would you say you don't deserve to be on this earth?" She looks sad again, but this time, I pay her no mind. I slam my fist into the wall, not caring that my parents probably hear the noise on the other side of it.

"Because I _don't!" _I take a deep breath, trying to relax myself. I sit back down across from Summer and Jackie, and they stare at me, concerned.

"Guys, fate has two choices for me. One of them is to stay here and continue to endure the pain that I'm forced to feel already, or finally let myself be free of it." I push a piece of my brown hair behind my ear, sighing. "And in order to that, I have to die. I will either win or die and I'm supposing the latter."

"Don't say that." Summer rises to her feet and offers me her hand. I grab it and she helps it up. "C'mon, let's find you something to wear."

I guess she's done talking about this. I want to ask her if she still thinks I should volunteer, but I decide not to push the topic further. Jackie opens my closet and pulls out a knee-length black dress.

"Does this work?" she inquires. I nod.

"Sure." It's the one dress I have that I want to wear the most, as it matches my current emotions completely. My friends turn their backs to me as I slip off my pajamas and pull on the dress. Once I have the back of it zipped up, they turn back around and smile at me. They seem like themselves again. They're not sad or gentle towards me. They're the two hyper, exciting friends that I've known and loved for years now.

"You look pretty," Jackie tells me. Then she giggles. "But you have a bed-head." She hands me a brush and I run it through the hair, wincing as I attempt to get the tangles out. Once my hair is smooth enough, I tie it back into a ponytail and exit my bedroom with my friends by either of my side. My dad sees us and he simply chuckles, offering Jackie and Summer a welcoming smile.

"Hey, girls," he greets them. "I didn't expect to see you guys here." He sees their dresses, which have dried just a bit by this point, but are still obviously wet. "Would you like to change? Julia has some extra clothes that you could wear."

"Nah. We're all going to get wet again, anyways," Summer assures him, glancing at a nearby window. Sure enough, rain is still shooting down like shards of ice from the sky. My dad nods and looks down at the watch on his wrist.

"It's 1:45," he tells us. "Which means we have 15 minutes until the reapings begin." He turns around so that he's facing the bedroom he shares with my mom, and claps his hands together. "Pronto, Tamara! We don't want to be late!" He hurries into the room to check on my mother. I turn to look at my two friends, a frown drawn on my smooth ivory face. I grab my white jacket off of the coat rack and slip it on over my dress, flicking the hood up onto my head. I slowly push the front door open, and it makes a loud creaking sound that my dad hears from where he and my mother are at across the house. He shouts at me not to leave yet, but I ignore him. I step into the rain, drops of water splashing the hood of my jacket and swishing below my feet as I start to walk. I glance over my shoulder at Jackie and Summer, who begin following me. As we head towards the town square, my parents just now leaving the house, Summer turns to me and asks, "So are you still going to volunteer?"

I shrug. "I...I'm not sure."

As we walk, I think about it. Do I r_eally _want to volunteer? Do I really want to throw my life away?

Maybe I wouldn't be throwing it away. Maybe I'm strong enough to win. But even if I don't win, I'll finally escape this nightmare that I live every day.


	2. The Reaping

By the time we reach the town square, the sky still hasn't cleared up. In fact, the clouds have gathered closer together, turning the sky completely black. No trace of any other color is visible other than charcoal black and dark gray. Wind has gathered in the atmosphere and continuously blows past me with such force that it nearly knocks me off my feet. I glance at the more wealthy District 5 citizens, who are carrying umbrellas, but it's literally no use. The wind is so strong that the umbrellas fly out of their hands the moment they open them. I make sure Summer and Jackie are still with me before heading over to the group of children eligible to be reaped for the Hunger Games that are waiting in line to get their blood drawn. The line is moving more slowly than usual, due to the fact that the Peacekeepers are having trouble seeing and moving about in this thunderstorm. I rub my hands together, my arms and legs shivering, and my teeth chattering. I think about conversing with my two friends while we wait, but they look just as freezing cold and pained as I feel. They're probably worse, actually, as the jackets they're wearing were already wet when they came out here and the feel of cold moistness against their skin was doubled. Their knees are clacking against each other and they keep their arms folded over their chests, as they stand there, the thousands of raindrops that fall from the sky blocking their view of me. I blink water out of my eyes as if they were tears and press my lips together in a firm line, tapping my foot impatiently as the line slowly moves forward. Suddenly, I hear someone call out my name. "Hey, Julia!"

I turn around, only to find myself come face-to-face with the one girl that I utterly hate with every fiber of my body: Jessica, the most popular girl at my school. She twirls around, extending her bare arms and sighing contentedly as if she _enjoys _this rain, though I can tell she doesn't. She's just trying to look cool I suppose. She stops and grins brightly at me, flipping her light brown hair over her shoulder. She places one hand on her hip and slouches to the side. I narrow my gray eyes and straighten my back so that we're at an even height, before asking, "What do you want, Jessica?"

Jessica shrugs. "I just wanted to say hi. Gosh, are you always this grouchy?" She glances up at the sky and giggles. "I mean, this weather is horrid, but why not try to make this a good day? Because it will be, for _me_." She winks. "I heard you were going to volunteer this year. That's wonderful for you!" Jessica's colleagues come up behind her and copy her position. They stare at me with enlightened expressions and wide, toothy smiles, though there's a sense of cruelty about them. I don't respond to Jessica's words; I've done that before, however that does me no use. No matter what I say, she continues with her bullying, and I've simply started to just stand there as she throws her powerful blows at me, keeping my face expressionless, yet destroying me on the inside. Jessica resumes speaking, her next words hitting me like a thousand knives. "It's wonderful that you've _finally _decided to throw your life away. We've been waiting for so long. It's not like you deserve to be alive, anyways. This is perfect... absolutely _perfect!_" She looks at me with this strange expectance, as if she wants me to agree with her. I don't. I cross my arms and scowl at her, trying to think of a good comeback, but all that comes out is a tiny, helpless voice, begging her to stop.

"Please, Jessica... don't be mean to me..." Jessica cackles at my words. She almost sounds like a witch. That's because she _is _a witch. Underneath that pretty face is a green-skinned monster with a long, crooked nose and a big mole. Because that's how they looked like in those stories, and I'm almost sure that's Jessica's true appearance.

"I wasn't, Julia," she replies. For a second, she almost sounds sympathetic, but I scold myself for thinking that she would ever actually feel sorry for me. "Two years ago. I was nice to you then, but that just got old after a while." She chuckles. "Plus, this is fun. Watching you cower in fear as I simply speak my mind. I'm being honest, Julia. You really _don't _deserve to be on this earth, and I know for sure that everyone agrees with me."

I know that isn't true, but I still can't help feeling upset. I also start to feel sad when I begin to remember how Jessica and I actually used to be friends. She started out in the school as a shy, bookworm-type girl. We quickly became friends and we liked to do lots of things together. But somehow, she changed over the years. I have no idea what happened to her. I guess she met other people who convinced her that being "popular" was the best way to go. She listened to them, and now, she's pretty much the Queen Bee of our school. Her mind had been completely erased of the friendship we once had, and now, she has a reputation of embarrassing, humiliating, bullying, and physically and verbally attacking me.

Maybe Jessica's right. Maybe I don't deserve to be on this earth. I take a deep, shaky breath, trying to keep tears from flooding my eyes. As much as I really don't want her to, Jessica keeps on speaking. Each word that escapes her mouth makes it seem like a part of the inside of me is slowly dying away. Just as she said I would, I cower in fear as she advances on me, talking about how everyone wants me gone and that her eyes will be glued on the TV screen each time she sees me in the arena. "I bet you'll have a slow, painful death," she tells me. "One that lasts for a long, _long _time. You deserve to be tortured."

_For what?! _I want to scream. _Why do I deserve to be in pain? _But I keep my mouth shut, the tears slowly trickling down my cheeks now, camouflaged by the rain that continues to pour around me.

"Oh my gosh, this is honestly the first time I've ever been excited for a Hunger Games!" Jessica claps her hands, the pearly white smirk never leaving her flawless porcelain face. "District 5 might have a victor this year, but it won't be you. Trust me."

That's it. I can't handle this anymore. Without thinking, I swing my arm towards Jessica's face and my fist smashes into her jaw. I bring it back towards me, gasping as she staggers backwards, crimson blood smeared along her jaw line. She glares at me, her eyes burning with pure hatred. "Oh, no you _didn't!_" She shoves me roughly onto the ground. My back meets with the concrete below and I squeeze my eyelids shut as pain shoots up my spine. After several long moments, I feel someone grab my wrist and help me up. Expecting for it to be either Jackie or Summer, I open my eyes, just to see that the person that helped me to my feet was a woman Peacekeeper. Her expression is very soft and her eyes shine with kindness and warmth. I look back at my two friends, who are gazing at me, concerned, while Jessica storms off to stand at the end of the line, her colleagues following closely behind her. Summer smiles sadly at me, though I just narrow my eyes and shake my head with disbelief. They're supposed to be my _friends_. Why didn't they stand up for me? What kind of friends are they?!

The Peacekeeper pricks my finger, drawing some of my blood. I don't feel any pain whatsoever, and when she finishes, I march over to my two friends. "What is with you guys?" I ask. "You usually _at least_ attempt to stand up for me. Why didn't you this time?"

"We're sorry," Jackie says. "We didn't mean to make you upset. We're just still pretty fazed by you deciding to volunteer, and we couldn't think of what to say." She gives me a reassuring hug, and I sigh, realizing that I was over exaggerating and they honestly are the greatest friends someone could ask for. I still can't believe I've decided that I'm actually going to leave them. Jackie lets go of me and we head deeper into the town square, searching for our required roped-off section near the front of the stage. We stand in between nearly one hundred other 14 year old girls as we wait impatiently for the reaping to begin, each of us staring up at the large iron stage where the names of the tributes will soon be drawn. A shiver runs up my spine. Where _I _will be standing in just a matter of time.

Finally, after what seems like hours of waiting in the pouring rain, the District 5 escort, Atelda, walks up to the stage. She appears very enthusiastic, her bright pink ponytail swishing behind her head as she makes her way to the microphone. She places her lips on the metallic sphere and greets us with an excited tone, her voice ringing throughout the atmosphere. "Welcome, welcome!" She beams at the camera, her eyes shining, as if she doesn't mind the rain that washes her face, clearly messing up the large amount of makeup she had put on and wildly smearing it all over her forehead and cheeks. "Welcome," she says again. "To the 205th annual Hunger Games!" The crowd lets out a forced cheer, only because they're supposed to, or else they're showing an "act of rebellion" or something.

Atelda begins her long, drawn-out speech that she and the other escorts are required to memorize and give to the districts. "Long ago, the 13 districts rebelled against the Capitol. The world was engulfed in flames for countless days. Many lives were lost. However, eventually, a new era rose from the ashes; an era of peace, and harmony…" I decide to tune her out, as I've heard the Dark Days speech before and it's gotten pretty old. I start thinking about the amber-eyed boy from my dreams. It's weird that he can appear in my head at random times when I'm not even purposely thinking about him. I snap back to reality the moment I hear Atelda say, "As always, ladies first!" and my watchful eyes follow her moving figure as she makes her way over to a large diamond ball, filled to the brim with thousands of slips of paper, a name printed on each and every one of them. I'm not afraid that I will be reaped; even if my name isn't called out, I will still go into the Games. I think for a moment, asking myself if that is still what I really want to do. I sigh to myself.

Yes. It is. I'm going to volunteer.

Atelda reaches her hand deep inside the ball, her pale fingers that move around as if they're searching for one slip of paper in particular. Suddenly, they take hold of one, and Atelda fishes the slip out of the ball, before unfolding it and reading the name once to herself before clearing her throat and parting her lips. The name slips out of her mouth very slowly so that we can all hear who it belongs to.

"Summer Taylor."

It's as if the world around me stops moving right then and there. I look to my side, at Summer, who is standing there, her features frozen with fear. Before she can even make a move to head towards the stage, I push past her and step into the aisle. "I volunteer," I say quietly. No one hears me, so I say it again, louder and more clear. "I volunteer!"

Summer stares at me, eyes wide. She looks unsure of what to do. She starts to move towards me but I hurry to the stage and she knows she can't do anything to keep me from handing the position as tribute back to her, so she stays where she is. Several moments later, I can tell Summer's fear has ebbed away and is replaced with sadness. She starts to cry and falls into Jackie's embrace, who watches me with saddened brown eyes. I try not to look at them as Atelda asks me what my name is and hands me the microphone.

"…Julia," I say quietly. My gaze sweeps over the crowd, landing on my parents. My mother looks very upset but tries to keep a straight face, as my father, who is standing beside her, is seemingly very proud by my actions and gives me two thumbs up when he sees me looking at him. "Julia Stark."

A smile stretches across Atelda's face. "Well, it's wonderful to have you here. It's not very often we get a volunteer from District 5!" After giving me a respectful pat on the back, she makes her way over to the males' ball, while I turn my attention to one very specific girl in the crowd. Jessica. She meets my gaze, and looks more like a witch than she ever has before. She wears a cruel smirk and her eyes are two thin hazel slits. She sees me staring at her, and she shoots me such a hateful expression that I have to look away. At the same time, Atelda draws a slip of paper from the male's ball, and the name she reads nearly knocks me off my feet. "Erlend Hallaren!" A brown-haired boy with gray eyes walks up to the stage, taking his place next to me. He looks pretty simple and average, however, the only reason me hearing his name shocked me is because Erlend is well known throughout District 5 as your typical teenage player as well as a psychotic rapist. That's right; his hobby is dragging random girls into alleys and raping them. He could make me lose my freaking virginity at any moment before the Games, and he's supposed to be my _district partner_?! I can't believe this. Atelda tells Erlend and I to shake hands, but I don't. I can't touch him. That disgusts me, knowing what kind of person he is and what he does to regular, innocent girls for a _living. _So, instead of appearing kind and friendly towards my district partner, I simply turn away from him, basically dissing him as I walk up to the car that will drive me to the Justice Building. I slip into the backseat, seeing that the person who is driving us is the Peacekeeper that helped me up off the ground earlier. She doesn't say anything, but I can tell she recognizes me. After about thirty seconds, both Atelda and Erlend join me in the car. The Peacekeeper plugs her key into the ignition and twists it, starting up the vehicle. She places the bottom of her leathery boot against the pedal and drives the car just a few yards down the road, before stopping in the parking lot of the Justice Building. Erlend and I get out, and she brings us into the building while Atelda stays behind to wait for the train to arrive, the one that will take us to the Capitol. Everything after that point is a blur; I sit down in my private room, on the comfortable velvet couches that they've provided. My parents come in and my father congratulates me. My mom unexpectedly stands up to him, yelling at him and asking him if he cares at all what might happen to me in the Games. I don't know why, but I sit up and say, "Do you not have faith in me, mom? Do you not think I can win?" With that, I tell her to leave me alone and get out of the room. She looks at me with such hurt in her eyes that I know I have to apologize, but she leaves before I can. My father gives me some last minute advice, and then my two best friends walk in. Jackie wraps her arms around me, a loud whimper escaping her throat as she sobs into my shoulder. "Julia…"

I glance up at Summer, who remains standing by the door, her expression dark. I gently push Jackie away from me and walk over to her. "Summer-" I begin, but she interrupts me.

"Why the hell did you volunteer?" she hisses.

"I couldn't just let you go into the Hunger Games," I tell her. "I would rather get myself killed than watch one of my best friends die."

"Whatever," Summer whispers. She grabs my hand, her sapphire-colored eyes staring deep into my stormy gray ones. "Just promise me that you're going to come back."

I can't. I know I can't. I don't know for sure whether I have what it takes or not. But I can't tell Summer that I won't come back. I have to at least give her hope somehow, and I can do that by promising her it has what it takes to come home. I remove my hand from hers, letting it drop to my side. "I… I promise."

She doesn't believe me. That, I can tell for sure. But she nods anyways, glad that I at least care enough to make a promise like that, even if I don't truly mean it. I give my two best friends one last hug before their three minutes are up and they are taken away. I actually sort of expect for Jessica to come into the room and bully me before I leave District 5 for good, but thankfully, she doesn't. I'm leaving my home on a good note… kind of. Several Peacekeepers come into my room and lead me outside. None of them are the female Peacekeeper from earlier. I don't know why, I just… feel a bit comfortable around her for some reason, I guess. My eyes focus on Atelda, who is waiting just outside the train. I don't see any sign of Erlend inside the building as we leave, and I figure he finished his goodbyes already and is now inside the train. I follow the District 5 escort inside the unusual vehicle, one I'd never actually seen in person before. The inside of it is extremely fancy and clean, with a nice kitchen, a homely living room with two maroon couches, a velvet loveseat, a coffee table, and a flat screen TV, two separate rooms for the tributes complete with a private bathroom and walk-in closet for each, and a dining room. I'm so taken aback by the wonderful sights that I would have never seen if I had remained in the poorer part of District 5 that I've lived in since my birth that I barely realize that the train begins to move. I glance out the window; everything on the other side of it is a blur as the train moves speedily fast at two hundred miles per hour or something. I can barely feel the train moving beneath my feet as I walk over to one of the couches and sit down. I hear a door open and close and I watch as my district partner steps out of his bathroom and takes a seat next to me.

"Hey," he greets flirtatiously, grinning at me. I roll my eyes, avoiding his gaze. He pushes a piece of my dark brown hair behind my ear. "Aw, don't be shy." He grins at me. "I'm not going to hurt you."

I glare at him. "Shut up, Erlend." I attempt to push him away from me, but he doesn't budge. "I know what you do to other girls. Don't think I'm going to let my guard down because I know that there's a possibility you could do that to me."

He shrugs. "Oh, Julia, Julia." He shakes his head, that creepy ass smile still glued on his face. "It's not rape if you enjoy it, remember?" He gently strokes my face, and I feel a growl rise in my throat.

"Who says I would like it?" I hiss. "How could I ever possibly enjoy rape? Rape is terrible and will always be something I'm afraid of."

"Well, that sucks for you, then," Erlend says. I can feel his hands move down my stomach and go inside my shirt, but I don't allow him to go any further than that. I kick him in the shin, causing him to remove his hands as he falls off of the couch. I lock my fingers around the collar of his shirt, and without realizing what I'm doing until the last moment, throw him across the room and into the wall. He hits the wall with a sickening thud and crumples to the ground, face-down on the carpet. I stare at my shaking hands in disbelief. Did I really just throw a 120 pound human being through the air and smack into the wall? Erlend sits up, running a hand through his hair and forcing a smile. "Wow. That's hot." He winks at me. "I've never seen a girl your size harness that much strength before."

I turn away from him and sprint into my room, choosing not to respond. I slam the door behind me and lock it before collapsing on my bed. I roll over on my back and stare up at the ceiling, my hands still continuing to shake with fear at what just happened back there. But what the hell _did _just happen back there? I take a long, deep breath, trying desperately to calm myself. Another deep breath. In, out. In, out. Eventually, I'm able to close my eyes and drift off into an uncomfortable sleep.

_He's there. The boy with the fire-colored eyes. He's staring at me, his ebony hair swept neatly over his brow, his right hand clutching the dark leather handle of his sword. My heart soars. He's not dead. He's alive. I extend my arms and run towards him, glad that he's there. He seems extremely confused as I pull him into my embrace. We don't know each other. But I feel strangely connected to this boy, and I'm glad that he's okay._

_Suddenly, I feel his muscles grow tense, and I step away from him. His eyes are wide and his lips are parted slightly, as if he was going to tell me something but he forgot what he was going to say at the last moment. I slowly turn around, gasping when I see the large crack in the ground that is slowly growing, slowly advancing towards us. Just when the ground is about to split in half right underneath our feet, the amber-eyed boy shoves me out of the way. I tumble to the ground, sitting up just in time to see him fall through the ground, deeper and deeper into the earth._

_I lost him. But again, I know he will never truly be gone._

_Not until I find him for real._


	3. Inhumanity

I pick at my steak with my fork, not bothering to cut it up so that I can eat it. I lost my appetite hours ago, perhaps after I volunteered to go into the Hunger Games. Erlend is sitting right next to me. I feel really weird being placed this close to him, and whenever I glance at him, a shiver runs up my spine. I will never forget what he tried to do to me, especially since he's done it to several other girls in the past. Atelda sits on my other side, gobbling up the food on her plate like a pig. Grease and some type of sauce has gotten all over her rosy red lips and her light pink cheeks. She doesn't seem to mind as she looks at me and grins. I can feel bile rise in my throat when I see food stuck in between her teeth and I quickly look away. The people sitting at the dining room table besides Erlend, Atelda and I are the District 5 stylists, Caylin and Ash, and one of the few District 5 mentors, Jade. I haven't gotten to interact with Jade yet, and I suppose she should be giving me some advice on how to survive during the Games, so I decide to strike up a conversation with her. I clasp my hands together over the smooth wooden surface of the table and say, "So… is there any advice you can give us for the Games?"

Jade stares at me for a few moments before laughing. "What's the rush, Julia? You just got on the train and you're already thinking about the Games? That's what training is for." She shoves a forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth, her gaze not leaving me just yet. I tighten my grip on my piece of metal silverware, still pressed into my steak that I have not yet taken a bite out of, already irritated with this woman.

"Listen, Jade," I say, as calmly as I can. "I'm about to go into a game where I can either live or die. Your job is to tell me how _you _won the Games so that I can at least have a chance at winning."

Jade blinks a few times before sighing. "You wanna know how I won?" She leans back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "I stayed calm and I kept on going, even through the worst points in the Games. Nobody can decide their fate. You either win or you don't; it doesn't matter what you do."

"It actually does," I argue. "It's not like the future can't change."

"It can't," she replies. "Trust me, there's no advice I can give you other than to stay calm, and hope for the best."

"You're insane," I grumble. I stand up, kicking my chair backwards and turning around, ready to exit the kitchen. Jade slams her fist down on the table.

"Come back here," she says. "Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm actually not," I respond coldly, before stepping through the doorway and into the lobby. I sit down on one of the couches and put my head in my hands, enjoying the peace and quiet. That's when I hear a door open and close and I have a feeling it's not going to be peaceful and quiet any longer. I look up, seeing Erlend slip into the room, softly shutting the door behind him. He comes over to me and sits down. "You okay?"

I look away from him, choosing not to reply. I hear him sigh. "Look, Julia. I know what I did earlier gave you the wrong impression of me."

"You think?" I growl quietly.

"But, the thing is, I'm not really a bad person."

"Then why do you rape people?" I demand, turning back around to face him. "You remember all those girls you've raped? Well, you've caused them to throw their lives away. They don't want to be pregnant at fifteen or whatever; it's too hard for them and they don't even care about living anymore! It's all your fault, and you're trying to tell me that you aren't a bad person?"

"It's complicated," Erlend says. "But that's not what I came here to tell you about."

"Then why _did _you come here?" I ask. I just want him to say what he has to say so I can be left alone.

"Did you ever actually watch Jade's Games?" Erlend inquires. I shake my head. "Well, she was injured severely during those Games, not only physically but mentally, too. That's why she's a bit insane. I think she's given up on trying to help others win after a while, because she didn't even know she was going to become a Victor herself."

"She's still insane," I mutter. "But… you're right. Though, I can't let that kind of advice get to me."

"I know. And you shouldn't; you need to have a plan. You can't just rely on fate or whatever she said."

"Yeah." A small smile shows on my lips for a few seconds. "Thanks, Erlend. That actually made me feel a little better about getting to know my – I'm sorry, _our _mentor."

He smiles back. "No problem."

Suddenly, the door opens once again and I fight back a groan. I just want to be alone. Well, being here with Erlend is alright, I guess, as long as he doesn't go all perverted on me again, but I feel a tad overwhelmed when Atelda enters the room. She dabs at her chin with a napkin, doing her best to wipe off the sauce and the grease that had previously been smeared all over it. She grins at me and gently places a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asks. I look away from her, choosing not to reply. She sighs and tells us that Jade instructed her to give us some advice on how to act during the chariot rides before we arrived in the Capitol in about an hour. She leads us over to the back wall of the lobby, near the bedrooms, and she lifts her head up, that big, stupid grin never leaving her face. "The first rule is to keep your chins up; keep your eyes glued on the crowd, wave at them, and smile at them. Try your best not to look away."

I look away.

"If the audience likes your chariot, then it's likely they'll throw roses or some other type of flower at you," Atelda continues. "Catch the flower – and the audience will like you even _more _if you throw it back at them.

From my previous experiences with the chariots, I've learned that a lot of the people in the audience like it when the girl has a sexy attitude towards their district partner."

I glance at Erlend. He smirks and wiggles his eyebrows. I roll my eyes before I remain staring at the ground.

"Something the Capitol also _loves _to see is star-crossed lovers. Oh my gosh – you guys should totally be the tribute pair to pull that off this year."

"No," I retort immediately. Atelda stares at me, confused.

"But –"

"I said, _no_," I repeat, my voice stone cold.

"Julia, don't you want the Capitol to like you?"

"They can like me without me being all lovey-dovey around this freak." I can tell Erlend looks a bit hurt, so I mouth the word _sorry _before turning back to Atelda.

"Who cares what you think of him? All that matters is what the Capitol thinks. They decide your fate, remember."

"What's with 'fate' around here?" I yell. "I can decide my own fate. And who said _I _care what the Capitol thinks? The Capitol is stupid." Atelda appears taken aback, but I don't apologize to her. She tries to come at me with a gentle approach once more, before I simply lose it. I shove Atelda backwards as roughly as I can, my eyes widening at the last moment when I realize that there's a window behind her. Her back hits the glass with a sickening _wham_ and the glass shatters, sending her flying through the hole in the wall. She hangs onto the ledge above her and I wrap my fingers around her pink arm, continuously cursing under my breath. "Damnit. Damnit. Damnit." What the hell is wrong with me? Do I have the blood of a Career or something? Because nobody else I know has as much physical strength as I do. Or at least, from what I've shown since I got on this train. First I literally threw Erlend against a wall, and now I send my escort flying through a window? This is insane. Maybe it's the effect of all my anger and confusing. Maybe it will wear off soon.

I yank Atelda back inside the train and toss her to the ground. By this time, Avoxes have gathered around the broken window, and they stare at me in horror as they begin to fix it. My gaze flickers over to Atelda, who perches herself up on her elbows after a few moments, her arms shaking. "Woah," she says breathlessly, her voice laced with astonishment. There are a few cuts on her face and neck, and I suddenly feel really bad. "I'm so sorry, Atelda –" I begin, but she interrupts me.

"Calm down, child," she says. "That was… pretty amazing. It will serve you well in the Games."

For some reason, I know that's true yet I wish it wasn't. I feel like a monster. A freak. I've already probably cracked a few of my district partner's ribs and now Atelda is covered in cuts; both injuries are the results of something I didn't even expect to happen. Without glancing at the two a second time, I hurry away from them and barge through my bedroom door, not bothering to close it as it swings back and forth, producing a creaking sound. I rush into my private bathroom and stare at my reflection in the mirror. I look like the same person, but at the same time, I don't. My messy brunette ponytail and lightly tanned skin and my gray eyes are like they were this morning… then why do I suddenly feel so, utterly different?

I slowly raise my fist. My knuckles are white and still shivering from what occurred just a couple minutes ago. Taking a deep breath and not really knowing what the hell I'm doing, I slam my fist against the mirror that is several inches away from my face. The glass cracks, splitting my reflection into several pieces. I bring my fist back towards me, watching as dark red blood trickles down my arm. But for some weird reason, it doesn't hurt. I don't feel anything at all. I rinse my hands off with water before standing there for a few moments, unsure of what to do. I exit the bathroom and back into my temporary bedroom, which is already quite familiar to me. I sit down on the white bed and cross my legs, staring out the window as trees and buildings fly past the train in a blur. Suddenly, we enter a tunnel, and everything is engulfed in darkness, but the pitch blackness only lasts for a few seconds before light pours through the windows again and a wonderful sight awaits me. Hundreds of towering silver buildings are scattered about, some of them appearing as if they touch the clouds above. Cars and buses zoom freely around the streets, and strange, exotic-looking citizens walk along the sidewalks. The train slowly parks into place beside 23 others, and I can already see children pouring out of the vehicles, staring in amazement at the brand new world they're in. And I know exactly where we're at. I would know even if my escort didn't tell me. It is so beautiful, so astonishing – yet at the same time, I desperately want to look away from the magnificence that lay before me. This city makes my head spin. The women with wild pink hair and scaly skin and the men with obnoxious golden tattoos and brightly colored skin make me feel sick. You wanna know why?

Because, my friend, they belong to the place that caused this entire mess.

This is the place that they belong to.

This is the Capitol.

. . .

I barely pay attention to what is happening around me; I think my legs are being waxed, but all I feel is a slight tickling sensation on my legs. My hair is neatly brushed and the dirt on my body is scrubbed away with clean water and soap. Before I know it, I'm laying on a white cot pressed up against the wall, wearing nothing but a silky yellow robe. I anxiously pick at my fingernails, still not quite sure where I'm at, until a man enters the room. I think he's actually about 18, a bit young for a stylist – well, at least, I'm pretty sure that's what he is. He looks a _bit _normal, but you can tell he's from the Capitol; since he's wearing a red tank top, you can clearly see the tattoo of a metal baseball bat he has on his left arm, and one of the solar system on the other. It actually looks pretty cool, I must say. His eyes are hidden under his baseball cap, and he wears ragged, faded jeans and sneakers. He smiles at me, introducing himself as Ash, my stylist. I was right. He's really friendly and he tells me that he's going to try his best to get the audience to like me. I remember what Atelda told me earlier, and I ask, "Do you think Erlend and I should act like star-crossed lovers?"

Ash shrugs. He uses a tape measure to determine my height and length. "That's your decision," he tells me. "I'm just here to make you look presentable."

_Right. _He's just here to completely change how I look, to smother my face in makeup and dress me up in some weird power plant outfit to represent District 5. He asks me if I feel comfortable with him having to take off my robe, and I immediately say, "No. Ew. _No._" I'm uncomfortable with that, and this guy is a complete stranger. But I know he has to, so I take off my robe before closing my eyes. When he tells me he's finished, I quickly put it back on and I lay back down on the cot.

"You're very cooperative," he tells me. He glances at his watch. "I'll need you to sit up. The chariot rides start in about five hours, and the only way we can make sure the costume fits is if we actually use you to test it out." I sigh, sitting back up and once again taking off my robe. I learn to feel just a tad less awkward about this situation after about an hour, but this is probably only because I'm pretty much entirely covered with the undergarments of the costume. I sit on the edge of that cot for a _long _time. I have nothing to do and I'm really bored, and since I can't see the costume until it's finished, Ash and the rest of my prep team have blindfolded me.

Eventually though, after what seems like practically forever, the blindfold is untied and it slides off of my face. I slowly stand up and make my way over to the nearest mirror.

And when I say this, I mean it; the girl I'm staring back at is most certainly not me. I run my hands through my hair – it's not brown anymore. It's dark black, the color of the night sky. My skin is frosty pale, and the long ebony dress I'm wearing makes me look… well, much more matured, I guess you could say. The only thing that remains the same are my gray eyes, but that's only because they were behind a blindfold the entire time. I don't get what's so special about my chariot outfit until Ash explains it to me. "When you're out there on the chariot," he says. "The little tiny light bulbs attached to your dress with illuminate, covering your entire chariot in a cloud of golden light. It will make you resemble the sun."

I get it. The sun – since District 5 specializes in power, we obviously work with solar power, right?

Ash grabs my hand and leads me out of the dressing room. The first person I spot is Erlend, who is wearing an outfit similar to mine; a plain black suit with seemingly nothing special about it. His hair has also been temporarily dyed black, and he also looks much paler than he did before. But like me, his light gray eyes are pretty much the only thing about him that remained the same, so I know it's him.

"Star-crossed lovers?" he asks me. I narrow my eyes and he steps away, as if he's afraid I'm going to punch him in the face. And believe me, at the point where I'm not freakishly strong, I will gladly do so.

"No," I say simply. "We'll just wave and smile at the crowd. Or at least, I will. I have no idea what you're planning on doing." He just grins stupidly at me and I facepalm, not even wanting to think about what he might do. After a couple minutes of just conversing with him, Ash, and Atelda, the chariots come rolling in, and the president's sleek, slightly frightening voice rings through the atmosphere.

"Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the 205th annual Hunger Games!"

The audience roars with excitement, and I have to plug my ears as I pull myself up onto the chariot. Erlend follows me, but just as he's about to stand up, the horses yank the chariot forward and he falls backwards, hitting his head on the back of the chariot. "Damnit!" he cries. Several people in the audience move their eyes towards us, and I smack him on the shoulder.

"Shut up," I say.

"It's not my fault we were given some bitchy horses," he mutters, rubbing the back of his head – but after that, he shuts up. The chariots move a bit slowly now, as District 1's chariot pulls into the center. The male tribute – I think his name is Vinicius or something – waves at the crowd, a big smile on his face. He wears silver armor and a diamond helm, meant to represent District 1's specialty, which is luxury items. His district partner, Kiersten, is wearing a silver dress and a diamond tiara. The audience cheers loudly for them, because honestly, they look very pretty. Their stylist did a great job. In a matter of second, their chariot is pulled out of the way, making room for District 2's. The tributes are Dani and Oli, who are dressed identically as knights, equipped with plastic swords (as real weapons aren't allowed on the chariots) and stare ahead of them, their noses pointed towards the ceiling, not bothering to glance at the crowd. But this just makes the crowd admire them more, due to the way they appear so stubborn and badass. And they really do look a bit threatening. Oli seems kind of amused by all this – but Dani is the one that scares me. I don't know what it is about her, but she just has that mysterious, frightening air about her.

District 3 is next. The tributes are named Annie and Jason, I think. The stylists didn't do that great for District 3 this year, as the two tributes are just wearing simple suits studded with spinning gadgets. They're okay, I guess.

After District 3 comes the chariot for the fishing district. The two tributes are dressed as Poseidon and Amphitrite, the Greek god and goddess of the sea. The male tribute, Kekai, looks vaguely familiar… I wonder where I've seen him before? Maybe I saw him as I was getting off the train earlier. I'm not sure.

And now for Erlend and I's chariot. The audience immediately starts boo-ing at us when they see our plain black outfits, however they're suddenly taken aback once they light up, and the entire square is flooded with a sea of pale amber light. I can see myself on the TV screen above me, and Ash was right; I do look like the sun. The light has created a sphere around my body, with rays shooting off of it. The light dies after just a few moments, but the audience doesn't seem to care. They cheer as loud as they can – I can hear some of them go "awww" once we leave and are replaced by the District 6 tributes who's names I haven't learned yet. I don't really pay attention to them, or District 7, or District 8. 7 and 8 are what they usually are; trees to represent lumber, and patchwork dresses and suits to represent textiles. District 9's chariot is pretty boring as well, and the District 10 tributes are just cowboys. Then there's District 11, and this chariot actually looks pretty cool; the girl is wearing a plain white dress, while the boy has on a white suit, and they look tangled up in fruit-studded vines. District 12 comes last. I don't even know what the hell they're supposed to be. Their entire bodies are covered in coal and they wear some sort of dark gray headdress. I don't even know anymore. The cheers that continuously rise from the audience despite the horrible ending to the chariot rides begin to die down as Panem's president, Pam, gazes down at us from her little balcony and speaks loudly, sounding extremely excited. She always sounds very enthusiastic for the Games, but it's never going to stop disgusting me. "Ladies and gentleman," she shouts. "Welcome to the 205th Hunger Games once again! We are honored to have you here, and we admire your bravery, your courage, and your sacrifice."

I try not to gag. Ever since I threw Erlend against the wall, this is the first time I've actually wanted my insane strength to suddenly appear, so I could jump up and throw the president off of her balcony and onto the floor.

**I hope you liked this chapter – and before you even leave any reviews about my character being overpowered due to her inhumane strength: the reason for that will be revealed eventually, I promise. She's not a superhuman or anything, trust me. Other than that, please tell me what you liked or didn't like, and how I could do better. Thanks!**

**Oh, and P.S.: The next chapter isn't going to be in Julia's POV. See if you can guess who's it will be in. Colin can't answer this because he already knows :P**


	4. Son of a Gamemaker

**Congratulations to nobody for guessing who's POV this chapter was going to be in. Well, I'll give some credit to Rainie, since she said either Colin or Kekai. I guess you'll figure out now.**

The TV screen blared with bright, colorful lights, as pictures of the first district chariot projected onto the screen. My head rested on my palms as I examined the District 1 tributes with a bored expression. They were two typical Careers that would most likely end up getting super far in the Games. District 2 was the same exact way, although the female tribute, Dani, frightened me just a bit. A black-haired Avox entered the room and handed me a cold glass of water that I slowly slipped, my light blue glaze continuing to watch the rerun of the 205th chariot rides. District 3 went by in a flash, as one of the more boring chariots, while District 4 caught my attention only slightly, due to the pretty fifteen year old named Elizabeth and the strange, emo-haired male tribute with amber eyes. The way he grinned with enthusiasm and waved at the crowd made me judge him to be a basic Career tribute, but still, there was something odd about him that I couldn't quite place. I scribbled a quick description of him down on my notepad – that was my job as the Head Gamemaker's son. I was supposed to analyze each of the tributes – at least the most important ones – so that my father would have a good idea of who to observe during training. I glanced up from my notepad, focusing my attention back on the television screen when the District 5 chariot pulled in. District 5 is probably by far the most important district this year, which really doesn't happen that often. And even though their chariot was downright amazing, I'm not sure that's the only reason they're so special. The male tribute, Erlend, has a history of raping girls in his district, while the female tribute, Julia, although she isn't _too _special, seems to have a rebellious spark about her. While Erlend is waving and blowing kisses at the crowd, Julia is just _glaring _at the cameras, her face expressionless. Even though she looks bored and like she just wants these chariots to be over with, I can somehow see in her eyes a burning hatred for the Capitol, the people that basically made her participate in these Games, even though she for some reason volunteered. Not like I can't agree with her. I'm not particularly a big fan of my home, either. I always feel like an outcast, because I'm not a freak like most Capitol citizens are, but that's just because I don't belong here. I may have the face and the blood of the Head Gamemaker but in no way is my soul resembled to him.

I hear the sound of a door opening. I reach for the TV remote and click the pause button and therefore stopping the chariot rides, before craning my neck in order to see my father, who is leaning against the wall, his arms neatly folded across his chest. Like me, my father's appearance isn't very exotic or unique, but he still has that devious glint in his eyes that clearly shows he is from the Capitol, and is glad to be a part of it. His eyes rest on the TV screen, on Julia Stark's pale, freckled face. He looks at her for a few moments, tilting his head to the side, before his gaze moves towards me and a grin stretches across his face. "Ah, Colin," he says. "You can resume watching this later. I need your opinion on the arena I've been working on." He gestures towards his workroom near the back of the living room, and I nod, rising to my feet and following him to the area that he stays up so late in, brainstorming ideas and creating an arena to have children placed in where they are forced to kill each other. A lump forms in my throat and I try not to throw up. My dad opens the door for me and I step inside, pressing my back up against the smooth marble wall as he turns on the computers. Each small screen lights up immediately, and I nearly faint at the extremely realistic images that form. I stare at them, my jaw parting slightly, my eyes widening in amazement.

My father explains the concept of the arena to me, and I tell him that I like it and that it's very creative. "The president will like it too, Dad," I assure him. "It's… uh, awesome." And truthfully, it _is _awesome. I haven't seen an arena like this from my dad ever since he was offered the title of Head Gamemaker. But at the same time, it scares me. I turn to my dad and ask him, "How did you come up with it?"

He shrugs. "I'm not sure. Just an idea that came to me, I guess."

"Ryan!" We both turn around as Jason, the head mutt designer, barges into the room. How'd he get a key? I guess all Gamemakers allow each other to come to their houses whenever they please. I don't really like Jason that much – he's kind of a snob and he acts like he's the Head Gamemaker, and not my dad. Of course, I hate the thought of anyone being the Head Gamemaker altogether, but it still annoys me how he tries to steal the title away from my Dad and at the same time acts like he's my dad's best friend.

"Ryan," Jason says again. "I have some ideas for the some of the mutts we could use." He glances at my dad's arena design for the first time, and he smirks. "Well. Now I have some more ideas. Would you mind checking them out?"

Dad nods. "Not at all, Jason." He turns to me and says, "Now, son, would you mind finishing up the chariot rides, so that when I come back, I can see your notes on the tributes and decide which ones I need to watch out for during training."

"Yeah, dad. Sure." He pats my head, and I shy away from him. He chuckles before leaving the room with Jason and softly shutting the door behind him.

I don't go back to watching the reruns of the chariot rides right away. I sit down at one of the computers. I avoid touching something that could mess up my father's work – I don't want to change anything, I just want to look what he has in mind. I click through each of the areas that my dad has already created, and each one makes me feel sick to the stomach.

I don't even realize that the black-haired Avox from earlier had been standing behind me until she taps me on the shoulder. I kick the chair backwards and it hits her in the leg. She staggers to the side, whimpering quietly. I push the chair out of the way, sighing. "Sorry, Berry," I apologize, sighing. "What do you want?"

Berry hands me a letter, closed up with a Mockingjay-shaped seal. The symbol of rebellion. Ever since the failed Mockingjay Rebellion nearly two hundred years ago, led by Katniss Everdeen, anyone who wears or uses an item that represents the hybrid bird in some way, they are immediately classified as a rebel. I know I definitely won't rat out whoever sent me this message, however – for some reasons, I guess I could consider myself a rebel as well. I hate the Capitol. I hate the Hunger Games. Maybe I don't do anything rebellious physically, but I for sure wish I was brave enough to.

"What is this?" I ask Berry. She looks at me for a few moments. I know she can't talk due to the fact that she had her tongue cut off when she was taken prisoner by the Capitol and became a servant to my father, but she usually has a way of communicating to me by expressions and with her eyes. She places the tip of her forefinger on the Mockingjay seal, and then puts the same finger to her lips. My eyebrows furrow in confusion, but I don't have time to ask her what she means, because the ebony-haired Avox hangs her head and quickly exits the room. Sighing, I remove the seal and open up the envelope, pulling out a piece of paper that has been folded several times into a thick white square. I unfold it and whisper out loud what I read to myself.

_Colin Hensen,_

_Meet me at the training center at twelve a.m. tomorrow._

_Don't ask why I want you to come here. _

_But I do expect you to come._

_- Jade Shifter, District 5 mentor_

I reread the letter over and over again, making sure I actually read what I thought I read. Why would the District 5 mentor want to speak to me? At midnight, in the training center? When no one else is around?

That's when I remember that Julia belonged to District 5. The one that looks like she has a rebellious spark.

I glance at the envelope that I still have clutched in my hand, and I gulp. _The Mockingjay seal._

Something's going on here; something that I need to know about. Perhaps the Mockingjay Rebellion wasn't going to be the last rebellion. Maybe… just maybe…

I feel a bit light-headed, and extremely confused, but I know one thing for sure.

I'm meeting up with Jade tomorrow night, to see what this is all about.

Just before I exit my father's workroom, I take one last look at his arena. That lump in my throat from earlier returns, and at this point I feel like passing out.

I hope the tributes know how to swim.

**Yeah, I'm totally evil, not revealing the actual arena. At least I gave you that little hint at the end, but still, you'll have to wait for the actual Games to see why Colin hates it so much.**

**But yeah, that's that. The next chapter will be the first day of training, and after that, we'll get to see why Jade wanted to see the Head Gamemaker's son so badly…**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter :D**


	5. Training Day One Part One

**Time for the first day of training! Well, the first half of the first day. The next three chapters are just going to be training, training, training. But don't worry, there will be enough drama to make it interesting :3**

_Fire surrounds me, but I don't feel as if I'm burning. I don't think I am. The flames lick greedily at my skin, yet I don't feel a thing. Then again, this is just a dream. But it seems so realistic; I don't think I can even be sure of that. The wildfire is so vivid and detailed, as well as the burning trees, the smoky black sky, and the scorched grass beneath my bare feet. I'm wearing the silky blue nightgown I went to sleep in, although it's now a shadowy purple, because I'm covered head to toe in dark gray soot._

_Someone grabs my shoulder, and I spin around. It's him. The fire-eyed boy. His eyes match the color of the flames dancing around me almost exactly. He stares at me, his eyes full of concern. "Julia," he cries. The first time he's ever spoken in any of the dreams I've had of him. "Watch out!"_

_In this dream, it's not the fire-eyed boy that dies. Something pierces my neck and I crumple to the ground, but I still don't feel any pain. I watch as the fire-eyed boy lunges himself at my attacker, whose face I don't get to see, and they collapse into the flames. I stay there, blood pouring from my neck. My spirit parts from my body and I see my corpse from a bird's eye view – it surprises me that it isn't burning into a pile of ashes._

_The fire-eyed boy bends over my corpse, and sobs into my shirt. The flames suddenly stop moving, and they form a thin blanket over the surface of the earth. As he begins to stand up, the flames rise with him. He twists his wrists to the side, and the flames speed in that direction, engulfing the remaining patch of vegetation in a golden light. Then he releases the flames and glances back down at my body, tears rolling down his face._

_Golden tears._

I jerk awake, beads of sweat having formed on my forehead and are trickling down the sides of my face. I sit up, blinking my eyes a few times as I try to process where I am. I'm in a fancy room, under two layers of blankets and dressed in a light blue nightgown. I'm not covered in soot, either. So it _was _just a dream. And I am still in the Capitol.

For some reason, I feel as if I would much rather be dead, like how I was in my dream. The pictures of the wildfire and the way the fire-eyed boy controlled the flames come flooding back to me, and I try to shake them out of my head. It was just a dream. But _why_? Why _that _dream? It doesn't make any sense to me. First, I was in a dark cell, and the fire-eyed boy was shot in the shoulder with an arrow. In my second dream, he fell through a crack in the earth, and now this? It's all too confusing to process. Do my dreams mean something? And why do I _still _get the sense that this fire-eyed boy is an actual person?

I think I'm insane. Yeah, that must be the case.

My bedroom door swings open, and Atelda tells me that I need to get ready for training soon. Then she leaves so that I can take a shower and get dressed. I stretch my arms above my head before tossing my legs over the side of the bed and standing up. I walk into the bathroom that is connected to my room and turn the dial that controls the temperature of the water that pours out of the shower head. I slip off my silky nightgown and step into the tub, the warm water drizzling me like drops of rain. Okay, the Capitol is really weird, but at the same time they can be efficient, because I don't have to do anything when I take a shower. Weird robotic arm things come out of the tile shower walls and clean my body for me. I know that sounds awkward, and believe me, it is. But nonetheless, I'm scrubbed clean and I exit the shower smelling like citrus fruit. I wrap a soft white towel around my body and leave the bathroom. I expect to find an Avox standing in my bedroom with a change of clothes for me, but instead, I find Erlend in their place. Of course. He hands me a black t-shirt and a pair of blue jean shorts. "You need any help?" he asks me, wiggling his eyebrows seductively. I slap him across the face. "Sheesh, you could've told me earlier!" He reaches for my towel, as if he's about to take it off. Growling, I bite down on his hand and kick him in the shin.

"Actually, I don't," I hiss. "Go away."

Erlend shrugs. "We still have four days before the Games if you ever change your mind." He winks at me before departing from my room.

That doesn't help me at all, knowing that I only have four more days to live, probably. Four more days to cherish this life that I had never gotten time to cherish before, with all of the bullying back home in District 5 and all…

I change into the t-shirt and shorts before walking back into the bathroom and staring at my reflection in the still cracked mirror. I haven't told Atelda or Jade or the Avoxes about it yet; mainly because I don't want to get in trouble, but also because I kind of want it to stay like this. Don't ask why. I run a plastic blue hairbrush through my brunette hair before tying it back into a tight, messy ponytail. Suddenly, Erlend pops out of nowhere and wraps his arms around my waist.

"Erlend!" I shriek. "How the hell did you get in here?"

"Questions, questions." Erlend cups both sides of my face with his hands and tries to place a kiss on my cheek, but I'm able to elbow him in the stomach, causing him to stagger backwards. I turn around and whack him in the face with the hairbrush before hurrying out of my room and into the kitchen. I find Jade and Atelda already sitting at the kitchen table, several pancakes stacked on top of one another on each plate, along with mounds of scrambled eggs, waffles, cups of fruit, and strips of sizzling bacon.

I sit down across from my mentor and escort, and once again, Erlend enters the kitchen and takes a seat by my side. I scowl at him before digging into my food. I didn't get much to eat yesterday, and I'm starving. I shovel pancakes and bacon into my mouth, and scatter food all over my area on the table, not caring that I'm not using any manners. Atelda glares at me and continuously tells me to wipe my face and to not eat like a pig, but I ignore her. I even shoot her a toothily smile at one point, knowing that I have food in my mouth. She gags and turns away from me. I swallow my food and laugh, before I resume eating.

Once my plate is clean and my stomach is full, it's almost time for training to begin. We're running just a tad bit late and I figure we'll probably be the last ones there, but that doesn't really concern me. It concerns Atelda, though, and she's so desperate to arrive on time that she's able to muster the courage to yank my chair backwards, causing me to fall out of it and drop to the tile floor. I grab Atelda by the foot, tripping her. "_Never _do that to me _again_," I grumble, seething. She nods quickly before scrambling to her feet and going over to Jade, who waves me over, telling me we really have to go. I roll my eyes and stand up, taking my dear sweet time as I make my way over to her. Once I reach her, she glares at me for a few moments before thumping me in the forehead.

"Ow! What was that for?" I yell, rubbing the spot where she thumped me with the back of my hand.

"You need to pick up the pace. We're already running late," Jade says.

"Already?!" Atelda looks so desperate as she pounds her fist against the elevator buttons. "Oh no! We can't already be late! OPEN, YOU DAMN DOORS!"

Nearly three minutes pass before the elevator doors decide to open. Sweating, Atelda stumbles into the elevator, and Erlend, Jade and I follow after her. I press my back up against the smooth granite walls, neatly folding my arms across my chest. Just as the elevator doors are about to close, the tributes from District 3 join us, panting with exhaustion as if they just ran a mile to get here. I guess we aren't the only ones running late. The doors close behind the tributes and their mentor, and we all glance at each other awkwardly as the elevator shoots upwards. We stand there in utter silence for several long moments before the elevator stops and the doors open back up again. The large group of tributes that have already gathered in the training center turn their heads to stare at us, some of them giggling when they realize how late we are. The District 3 tributes hurry over to them to take their place in front of the Head Trainer, Atelda of course following closely behind them. Meanwhile, Jade, Erlend and I calmly enter the training center, not the least bit stunned by how increasingly late we are. At least it was polite of the Head Trainer to wait for us before she began giving us instructions. As I take my place among the twenty-two other tributes, not including my district partner, I hear a smaller group of tributes snicker at the sight of me. I crane my neck to see who they are, and my eyes narrow. I'm pretty sure they're the Careers. The District 2 male, Oli, laughs and says, "Some people just _love _to sleep in late."

I feel a growl rise in my throat. "I'm sure you wanted to sleep in late too, but instead, you got up extra early so that you could blow yourself up with a big breakfast or something." Of course I'm commenting on his weight, even though he's truthfully pretty skinny and fit. It wasn't the _best _retort someone could make, but it was the best I could think of, and it obviously worked well enough as Oli holds his hand up in the air with defeat and mouths the word 'whatever', before the Head Trainer begins speaking.

"All of you have gathered here today to begin your training for the Hunger Games, which will begin in approximately four days," she explains. "You will have two days of training, and a third day to show off your skills to the Gamemakers. Most of you will immediately go for the weapons, but remember this; starvation or dehydration could kill as easily as a knife. Even eating a poisonous berry is a common death. I also encourage you to try the survival skills stations and the obstacle courses. Knowledge of survival and agility could prove to be two great qualities during the Games." Her gaze sweeps over us, and she places her hands on her hips. "That's all I should tell you. Also, there will be no fighting with each other in here. There will be plenty of that for the actual Games."

With that, the Head Trainer is done speaking and we're off, spreading across the training center towards different stations. I know the Head Trainer said to not immediately go for the weaponry stations, but I head over to the throwing axes anyways. I lock my fingers around the smooth wooden handle of the slightly heavy weapon. I turn to look at my targets. There's a target board just a few feet away from me, one several feet away from that one, and one near the back of the room. I'll just title them Easy, Medium, and Hard. Obviously, I go for the easy target first. I bring the axe behind my head before yanking it forwards, releasing my grip on the handle. The axe buries itself into the bull's eye. That was easy.

Yeah, no kidding, Julia.

I try the medium target next. I perform the same process with my axe and it once again hits the target board. It doesn't land on the bull's eye, but it's close enough. A few other tributes who were watching me cheer a bit, but they remain standing in place, as if expecting me to try out the hard target. Even though I don't know any of these people, I still want to prove myself to them. So I take another axe from the weapon rack and narrow my eyes in concentration, refusing to look away from the target. All of my focus floods to the bull's eye, and everything seems to go in slow motion as I throw the axe and it lands right…on…

The third ring. Not at the very edge of the board, but nowhere near the bull's eye, either. The tributes who had been watching me shake their head in disappointment. I turn to face them. "Wait! Stay," I beg. "I'll try again. This one will be better."

They stare at me as if I'm crazy for wanting to prove myself to them, but they stay anyways. I grab another axe and throw it. This scene isn't as dramatic as the previous one, but it's better. It speeds through the air and lands not on the edge of the target board, but on the edge of the yellow bull's eye. So it's not exactly in the middle, but it was still a great throw. The other tributes congratulate me and tell me that I did pretty good before walking off to their own thing. The only tribute that remains where he was is Vinicius Swift, the male tribute from District 1.

"Hey." He smiles at me and offers me his hand. "Julia, right?"

"Yeah." I take his hand and shake it. "That's me. You're Vinicius from District 1, right?"

He nods. "You can just call me Vinny." He nods towards the axe in my other hand. "You were awesome just a minute ago, getting nearly every bull's eye. Not a lot of people have that talent."

"Okay."

"Would you like to join the Careers?" he inquires. I blink. That was really abrupt. I just got here and now I already have an offer to join the strongest alliance that usually has the tributes that become the Victor?

"You have what it takes," he continues. "You would land a good place among us."

"Um… I'll think about it," I tell him.

He shrugs. "Tell me when you're ready." With that, he walks off towards the sword and katana station.

I pause for a moment, trying to contemplate what just happened. Vinny just asked me to join the Careers, the best alliance there is, and I didn't accept right away. Then again, am I even going to accept? The Careers would force me to kill other tributes, and I don't know if I would even be able to bring myself to do such a thing.

I set down my axe and decide to try one of the obstacle courses next. I walk up to one of the race courses, and I only have to wait about a minute as the two tributes that were racing each other before I arrived finish3 up. Just as I was about to climb up onto the obstacle course, I realize I have nobody to race – that is, until the male tribute from District 4, Kekai, walks up and says he'll race me.

We climb up onto the obstacle course and the trainer starts the timer. We both break into a run at the exact same time, leaping over hurdles and dodging spinning plastic blades. We slide under ledges and jump around poles that appear out of nowhere. We seem to move in unison, and for a second I'm afraid there won't be a winner. That's when Kekai nudges me in the ribs, causing me to lose my balance. He acted so quickly so nobody saw that he cheated, but nonetheless, I fall off the obstacle course and plummet to the floor. Just seconds later Kekai wins, and he walks over to me, laughing. "Not as agile as you thought you were, are you?"

"Kekai," a familiar voice says. I look up to see Vinny, walking over to his fellow Career. "Leave her alone. She's one of us."

"Not yet, she isn't," Kekai retorts. "She shouldn't be."

Vinny shrugs, as if he couldn't care less. I stare at him in disbelief, as well as all of the other tributes that continue to laugh at me for falling off of the gauntlet. "It's not my fault I fell!" I try to tell them. "I'm agile! Kekai – he – he nudged me! In the ribs! That's why I fell!"

"Nah," Kekai decides, shaking his head. "You're just clumsy. I didn't do anything."

The trainer approaches me gently. "It's okay that you fell off," she assures me. "It was your first time trying. Sometimes you just can't be as agile as others."

"Shut up," I yell at her. "I'm agile. That idiot _pushed me!_"

This reminds me of my bullies back in District 5. Because of them, nobody really believed a word I said there, either. Frustrated, I storm away from them, towards the plant recognition station or something, I'm not really sure. As I turn a corner, I bump into someone, and we both fall backwards and onto the ground.

"Oh! I'm sorry." I lift my head to see a fourteen year old girl jump to her feet. She flips her wavy brown hair over her shoulders and helps me up. "I didn't see you there. My bad."

"It's fine," I say.

"I'm Emily Skye, by the way," she introduces herself. "But most people just call me Emma. I'm from District 8. You?"

I sigh. "Julia Stark, District 5."

"Oh." She frowns. "Yeah, you're that girl that volunteered. Why did you?"

"It's complicated," I tell her.

"Okay." She examines me for a few moments before I hear yet again another pretty abrupt question. "Wanna be allies?"

I giggle. "I just met you, Emma, and I don't even know anything about you," I tell her honestly. "_Maybe_ we can ally. What are your strengths? I think I should know."

Emma thinks for a moment. "Well, I guess I'm pretty fast, and I'm great at climbing trees," she says hopefully.

I nod towards the plastic trees that tributes are struggling to climb up and down. "Show me."

"Um…okay." Emma races up to one of the trees and latches onto the lowest branch, swinging her legs backwards with enough force to cause her body to flip. She releases her grip and stands on a higher branch, waiting for a few moments for her legs to stop wobbling. After she's regained her balance, she climbs higher, almost effortlessly reaching up to each branch and hauling herself up. Within about fifteen seconds, she's at the highest branch. I shudder when she straightens her spine and looks over the other tributes in the training center, not bothering to grab onto anything. I'm afraid of heights, so what she's doing right now amazes me. Then, out of nowhere, she does a forward flip off the tree and lands perfectly on two feet when she reaches the ground. I rush over to her, beaming, and clasp her on the shoulder.

"Wow… that was _really _cool," I say. "Remind me what district you're from again?"

"Eight."

"Well, what you did right there made me think you were from District 11 or something."

"Er, yeah." She seems to quickly change the subject after I make that comment. "What are your strengths?"

I decide that I'll avoid telling her about my freakish amount of physical strength, in fear that she'll think I'm some sort of monster or something. "I guess you could say I'm a pretty good swimmer, and I'm agile," I tell her. I glance over at the gauntlet that I had previously fallen off of. When I take another look at Emma's face, I realize she had been one of the tributes that had been watching me race Kekai. "What you saw over there – I mean, when I fell off – I'm _agile, _okay? And I'm not clumsy. The boy from District 4 – he –"

"I know what he did," Emma assures me. "He nudged you in the ribs, causing you to be unbalanced and fall off the gauntlet. I saw it."

"Really? But his move was so quick, and nobody else saw it."

"Maybe they weren't paying attention," she suggests. At that moment I see that Emma is probably one of the more observant and alert tributes. That will really come in handy for her during the Games.

"So," she says. "Allies?" She sticks out her hand. After a moment, I shake it.

"Allies," I repeat. She smiles and we walk off together.

"I think we should look for some other members," Emma tells me. "I mean, together, we might make it far, but you know – the bigger the better!"

"Go ahead," I say, waving her off. "As long as they aren't insane."

"M'kay!" Emma runs off and trips over her own feet, falling to the ground face first. She quickly scrambles to her feet, turns around and gives me a thumbs up, before heading over to the bow and arrow station where a few ally-less tributes train. I roll my eyes. I take back what I said; I already _have _an ally that's insane.

But she's a good ally, I suppose; I'm glad I met her.

I decide to head back over to where the weapons are, thinking I'll practice throwing a few knives or something before our lunch break. On my way there, a great force slams into me and I expect to tumble onto the ground. Instead, I fall into the indoor pool, and my body splashes violently against the water. I sink beneath the surface, the world around me turning crystal blue. I stay at the bottom of the pool for a few seconds, before the stun wears off and I'm able to pull myself to the surface. I swim over to the edge of the pool and grab onto it, glaring at the boy who's laughing. The boy who shoved me into the pool for no apparent reason.

"Kekai!" I yell. "What was that for?"

"Ah, what's the matter?" Kekai coos, pursing his lips. "Afraid of a little water?"

"Not at all," I retort. "But _why _did you push me? What did I ever do to you?"

He only responds with cruel laughter. A few of the other Careers join in, including Vinny, the guy who previously tried to scold Kekai for bothering me. The only Career that doesn't laugh is the District one female, Kiersten, but when the girl from District two, Dani, nudges her roughly in the shoulder, she reluctantly joins along.

"Alright, alright," Vinny says after a moment, trying to catch his breath. "Seriously, Kekai, you need to stop with the attitude. She's one of us."

_No I'm not! _I scream inside my head. I can't put up with this anymore. I feel the monster inside of me that I only recently discovered crawl to my exterior, and within seconds I find myself leaping out of the pool and slamming into Kekai. I push him up against a wall, one of my hands squeezing his shoulder while I bring the other one back behind me ear, ready to punch him in the face.

Suddenly, though, I let my fist drop down by my side. For some reason, I can't punch him. Why can't I? It's just the way he looks at me, with a slightly concerned expression that I never thought he would wear, and… wait – golden eyes…?

Kekai grabs my hips and yanks me upwards before tossing me carelessly onto the ground. I roll over and prop myself up on my elbows, trying to get another good look at him as he walks back over to the other Careers. No… they're brown, just as I thought they were… right? I'm seeing his eyes correctly from here… _right_? Yeah… I was probably just hallucinating. I saw what I wanted to see for a split second. I'm crazy. I admit it. That's the only logical answer.

Emma and a girl I have never met before rush over to me and help me up. "What happened?" Emma asks.

"Just a bunch of idiots," I tell her, dusting off my arms. "As in those damn Careers."

"Ah." Emma nods, as if she understands. "Anyways, this is Anna. She's from District 7. She's good with a bow and arrow and is really good with survival skills."

I nod. "Hey. I'm Julia, District 5."

Anna smiles. "I know. Emma told me about you. You seem really cool."

"Thanks."

The bell signaling our lunch break rings before our conversation continues, and we're off to the cafeteria.

. . .

I take a seat at one of the lunch tables across from my two new allies, Emma and Anna, and set down my lunch tray. The large group of Careers pass me. Kiersten and Oli eye me nervously, while Kekai and Dani just roll their eyes with disgust. Vinny asks me if I want to sit with them, and I quickly say no. "But…" I say quickly. "That doesn't mean I don't want to join."

"I know," he says. "Just tell me when you're ready." He walks away and I sit down.

"You're not really going to join them, are you?" Anna asks. I shrug.

"Probably not. You know what – no, I'm not. I'm definitely going to stay with you guys. But I'm afraid they'll kill me or something if I don't join them."

"Except for Kekai," Emma remarks with a snicker. I glare at her.

"Oh, e_specially _him!" I correct. "He's the worst."

"Are you sure?" she asks in a sing-song voice. "Because, from the experience I've had with boys, they're only mean to you if they _loooveee _you." She's teasing me and is for sure as hell getting on my nerves. I slam my fist down on the table.

"Shut up," I growl.

"Okay, okay, calm your tits," Emma says, frantically waving her hands around in the air. She looks at Anna. "Anyways, Anna, I was watching your reaping yesterday and saw a bunch of kids try to follow you up to the stage. Were those your siblings?"

She shakes her head. "No, I work at the orphanage. I help children find new homes."

"That's very sweet that you would do something like that," I say. "How many children have you found new homes for?"

"Several," she tells me. "Too much to count."

I really like Anna a lot. Not just because she's friendly and has a pretty good sense of humor, but she does so many good things back in District 7. She works at an orphanage and helps save the lives of kids that have literally been abandoned on the streets, she donates the money she earns from work to charity, she volunteers at the local animal shelter on the weekends, and from the way she talks about her school, gets along well with everybody. When I tell my allies that I'm bullied back home, Anna places a hand on my shoulder and tells me that she sincerely wishes things will get better for me if I win.

"_If _I win," I mumble. They don't seem to hear me.

We continue talking about each other's lives for a bit before it's all about me again. Earlier, I told Emma to drop the reason why I volunteered, that it was too complicated. But Anna asks me with a worried tone, as if she's unsure why I would do such a thing and she wants to help me if it's for a bad reason.

"My dad," I tell her with a sigh. "He wants me to volunteer."

"You could have disobeyed," Emma points out. "I mean, didn't your mom not want you to?"

"She didn't," I agree. "But… I don't know. Like I said, it's complicated."

Anna frowns. "I can help," she assures me. "We both can. We're your friends."

"No," I say darkly. "We're not _friends_. Just allies." The bell rings and I jump up from the table, glaring at them for a few moments. Emma looks hurt, while Anna keeps a straight face and nods slowly, as if she understands. I silently thank her for not pushing the topic further, and head back into the training room.

Since my stomach is full with food, I decide to go to a station where I don't have to stand, and the closest one is the fire-building station. I sit down on a patch of dry moss and rub a stick against another one, feeling the friction in my bones as I try to get the fire started. After several minutes, there's a single spark, and I blow air onto it. After a bit of more breathing and rubbing the sticks together, the spark turns into a small flame. I blow some more, and the flame slowly grows bigger and bigger until it bursts alive, and sends embers flying onto the floor. I grin at my masterpiece and set the fire down before gently pushing it to the side.

Oh my god.

Kekai sits across from me, finishing up his own fire. He holds it in front of him, away from his face. He catches me looking at him and narrow his eyes, but I don't care that he looks murderous, like he's about to kill me.

Because at that moment, I realized that I'm not crazy.

His eyes… they _are _golden.

I jump to my feet, not bothering to put out my fire, and rush into the bathroom. I dart into one of the stalls and slide to the floor, burying my face in my hands.

Golden eyes… dark black hair… _golden eyes_…

I thought they were brown… but that was probably just because I was looking at them from far away.

Goddamnit, they a_re _golden. Why didn't I realize this sooner?

It's him. The boy I've been looking for my entire life.

The boy with the fire-colored eyes.


	6. Training Day One Part Two

I try to catch my breath, attempting to keep up with the thousands of thoughts that tangle up inside my mind. I wasn't hallucinating – I know for _sure _Kekai Stone's eyes are golden, the color of fire; the same colored eyes of the boy in my dreams. He looks the same, too. I didn't realize that until now. But… he's a _Career_. He doesn't even know that I've dreamed about him before. How am I supposed to confront him? Do I just go up to him and say, "Oh, hey, I dream about you almost every single night, and I've been meaning to find you." He would just think I'm weird and bully me for that even more. So what the hell do I do?

I sit in the bathroom stall for a few minutes – no, more than just a few; I've probably been in here for nearly an hour. I'm completely lost in my thoughts and I don't snap back to reality until Kiersten, the District 1 female, enters the bathroom and sees me through the opened stall door. "Where have you been?" she asks carefully. "Vinny's been looking for you."

I sigh, rising to my feet and running a hand through my brown hair. "Of course he has," I say, rolling my eyes. Vinny is always looking for me. He still thinks I'm going to eventually decide to join the Careers, even though I've given him plenty of hints that clearly say I don't. Either way, I leave the bathroom and am once again surrounded by exhausted, sweaty tributes that push themselves to train more. My eyes wander through the crowds of people as I try to find my allies, but they're nowhere to be seen from where I'm standing at the moment. I can't find Vinny, either. I'm sure he's at some weaponry station with a few other Career alliance members, and I'm not really in the mood to talk to him anyways. I decide to head over to the plant recognition station. I haven't been there yet and I guess I need some practice with edible and poisonous plants.

When I walk up to the back of the line of tributes waiting to test their skills at the station, I see that only two people are in front of me; the girl from District 9, Mia, who finishes quickly, and surprisingly, Dani from District 2. I didn't really expect her to be the type of tribute that was intent on knowing about survival skills. Since she's a Career, I just figured she would be all into fighting, fighting, and more fighting, but I guess I was wrong.

I watch as her pale fingers slide over and across the lighted, touch-screen board, as she matches each plant shown on the screen above her with its name and use. She does very well, I must say, and by the end of the test, she scores 83%. She only missed a few ones that she thought would be able to heal exterior injuries, and she seems very proud of herself. When I walk up to the board, she offers me a smug smile and narrows her eyes, as if to say, _There's no way in hell you're going to beat me. _I'm pretty sure I won't, but who cares, anyways?

The trainer starts the timer, and my fingers are off, skidding wildly across the board as they pick out words, names, and more words – some of them I'm certain are correct, but others I'm not even sure if I'm close to being right about. This is my first time doing this, and I wouldn't say I'm the best at identifying edible plants, but when the test ends and my score is projected onto the board in the form of big, bolded green letters, I as well as several others, especially Dani, are surprised by what I get. 85%. It's not the best score, but it's better than Dani's, and for a second, I thought _she_ was the best at this. She glares at me and I take a step back, worried she's going to attack me for getting a higher score than her. Instead, she just walks up to me and smirks. "What I missed just doesn't have the power to heal me," she says simply. "What _you _missed is a berry that will kill you instantly."

"And what is that berry called?" I ask.

"Figure it out," she says with a shrug. "You missed the answer." She calmly strides away, and I decide to take another shot at the test, when someone grabs both of my arms and pull me away from the station. I turn around and find myself come face-to-face with Emma. "Where were you and Anna?" I ask. "I was looking for you earlier."

"_We _were actually looking for _you_," she tells me. "Where the hell have you been for the past hour?"

"Training," I lie. "Training in… other places. I couldn't find you after lunch. So… where's Anna?"

"She's trying to get some practice with sword fighting," Emma says, still not sure if I'm telling the truth or not. "I wanted to go to the throwing knives station. Would you like to tag along or do you have some other, _important _things to do?"

"Okay, you're pissed, I get it," I say. "Let's go throw some knives, okay? I need to work on that, too, I guess. Lead the way."

She scowls at me before turning around and heading over to the throwing knives station. I follow closely behind her. When we arrive, the trainer hands Emma a knife, and she examines her target before aiming and throwing the lightweight weapon. Her aim is a little off, and instead of hitting the target board several feet in front of her, it misses by an inch and buries itself in between two loose floor boards. Obviously determined to do better the way I was earlier with the axes, she grabs another knife and directs her throw at a different target. This one hits, right in the middle of the bull's eye.

"Cool," I praise, clapping my hands. "Maybe this is your best weapon."

She beams at me, and I can tell she isn't mad any longer. Emma isn't really the type of person to stay mad at someone for a long time, and I appreciate that. "Maybe you should try," she suggests.

"Maybe I should," I mumble. I don't expect to be good at this; I could barely succeed with the throwing axes, and I had never actually used a weapon before training today, but I suppose I'll give it a shot. Emma places a knife in my hand and I chuck it with a little bit too much force. It flies right over my target and slices speedily through the air, lodging itself in the wall on the complete other side of the room – right above Dani's head. Shit.

Dani stands still for a few eerily silent moments, as the eyes of everyone in the area turn to her. She moves her hand above her head and locks her fingers around the leathery handle of the knife, slowly pulling it out of the wall. Her ice blue gaze flickers across the room until it lands on me, and I'm sure she's able to figure out that I was the one that threw the knife due to how I slowly back up and get ready to run, because she immediately charges and once she's just a foot away from me she swings the knife, ready to bury it into my neck, when someone knocks the weapon out of her hand and pulls her away from me. I recognize the person immediately. He flips his hair out of his eyes and locks his arms around Dani's chest, struggling to keep her in place as she kicks and twists. "Bitch!" she screams. "That… that bitch tried to kill me!"

"No, she didn't," Kekai tries to assure her. She digs her nails into his arms, but he doesn't loosen his grip on her chest. For some reason, he seems like he doesn't _want _her to attack me. "It was an accident, Dani. Leave her alone."

Vinny walks over and Kekai releases the girl from District 2, who glares at me for a few seconds before shouting and storming away. Vinny sighs and hurries after her, telling her to wait up. Kekai turns his head to look at me, and the first thing I think to look at is his eyes. Yeah… they're golden. I didn't even realize that they were until I saw him beside the fire an hour ago. Maybe because I didn't want to see the fire-colored eyes on _him_… but they were there, alright. I look away from Kekai, not understanding why _he _had to be the boy of my dreams, and not understanding why he basically saved my life from the deranged District 2 female, when he's been bullying me ever since I got here and I know he would rather see me dead. Afraid to see his eyes, I don't look up until I hear him sigh quietly and walk away.

I glance up. Thankfully, Kekai is gone, and Emma comes running towards me. She gives me a hug before slapping me on the shoulder. "What the hell was that?" she demands. "You shouldn't fool around like that. Are you trying to draw in trouble? I thought Dani would kill you. She _would've _killed you, you know, if it weren't for that District four boy coming to rescue your butt."

"Even if she did kill me," I say slowly, ignoring the last sentence. "It would've been against the rules, and the Peacekeepers would've executed her for it."

"But _you _would be dead anyways," she points out. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. Why did you put so much force into your throw? It's like you were aiming at Dani all along!"

"I wasn't," I tell her. "And you know that."

"Then why put so much force into your –"

"It was an accident!" I yell without meaning to. She stares at me with disbelief, and I want to tell her I'm sorry for snapping, but I just can't. I don't w_ant _to be as strong as I am. I don't even know what's going on with me right now. I didn't try to put that much force into my throw, honestly. It just… happened, and I'm pretty sure it was because of my freakish strength that I discovered recently.

"We should go find Anna," I mutter.

Emma sighs exasperatedly and nods. "Yeah. Okay." We both push through the crowds of wandering tributes as we make our way towards the sword station. We find Anna almost immediately; she isn't hard to miss, with her platinum blonde hair that is normally tied back in a braid. I run up to her and tap her on the shoulder. "Hey, Anna! How was sword fighting-"

"Shush," she whispers, and points to the wide area in between stations in which a tribute is currently practicing with dual swords. I recognize him as the male from District 6; I think his name is Wesley or Wes or something. He's actually pretty good, the way he chops off the head of a dummy or slices open its chest with each turn he makes, but the way he sings obnoxiously at the top of his lungs kind of makes his performance seem a bit ridiculous.

"_Let's have a kiki  
I wanna have a kiki!__  
Lock the doors, tight!__  
Let's have a kiki, mother fucker  
I'mma let you have it  
I wanna have a kiki  
I wanna have kiki night  
We're gonna serve,__  
And work and turn, and honey!"_

He ends his show with a sword split down the middle of a dummy. He grins and swings his weapons over his back, resting the handles on his shoulders. "And that, my dears, is why I'm the best swordsman in Panem," he says confidently. "I'm tired of killing dummies, though; would anyone like to challenge the master?"

Everyone backs away instantly, and before I can join them, Wes grins and points to me. "How about you? Come on up – I'll try to go a _bit _easy on you."

"Uhh…" I look at Emma, who smiles nervously and gives me a thumbs up. I roll my eyes. "Yeah, sure." What can be so bad about sword fighting with some seventeen year old tribute? It's just training. It's not like he's going to actually kill me… so why does everyone seem so nervous? I shrug and walk up to him. He hands me one of his swords and readies himself in a fighting position. Not really knowing what I'm doing, I charge and put the blade of the sword to his side. He freezes. Well, that was easy –

Wes leaps to the side and spins around, before facing me directly. He raises his sword and brings it down towards my head, nearly slicing my head open. I'm able to duck out of the way just in time and circle around to his back, putting the tip of the blade to his neck. I'm worried I'm going to hurt him, but I keep my weapon there, hoping he'll give up so I don't have to worry about injuring him before the Games. To my surprise, Wes just smiles and opens his mouth, and what comes out of it confuses me.

"_Oh, oh, oh, go totally crazy-forget I'm a lady  
Men's shirts-short skirts  
Oh, oh, oh, really go wild-yeah,__  
doin' it in style  
Oh, oh, oh, get in the action-feel the attraction  
Color my hair  
do what I dare  
Oh, oh, oh, I wanna be free-yeah,__  
to feel the way I feel  
Man! I feel like a woman!"_

More singing? I feel like facepalming. Just as I think singing while fighting is going to get him distracted, Wes easily knocks my sword out of my hand and places his own blade to my chest. I put my hands up in the air, and he smirks. "I win," he says.

"Mhm," I agree with a small shrug. "You can, um… Put that sword down now."

Wes laughs. "'Kay." He tosses his sword carelessly to the side and walks away, sitting down on a nearby bench to get a drink of water. I follow him.

"That was really cool, what you did out there," I tell him. "Does singing give you control or something when you fight?"

"Yes," Wes says. "Singing used to be my hobby, and now it's become my strength. But I usually always sing pretty ridiculous songs."

"Why? Doesn't it distract you?"

"Not at all. It distracts my enemy, actually," he explains. "They think what I sing is so stupid and out of the blue, and that's the point. It distracts them and gives me the chance to take control, like you said."

I blink, and I realize that he's right – I thought he was the one that was probably going to get distracted, when really, _I _was distracted by the ridiculous song that he was singing, which was why he was easily able to knock the sword right out of my hand. Upon further thought, I decide that Wes might just make a good ally because of his unusual strength.

"Wes," I say slowly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have an alliance yet?"

"Well, no," he admits. "Kind of? I don't know. The Careers asked me to join them, but I'm not sure if I want to."

"You shouldn't," I say. "The Careers asked me to join them, too. But I have my own alliance that's just as good. I'm with Emma from District 8, who's a really good climber and really fast, and Anna from District 7, who's great with a bow and arrow and awesome with survival skills."

"And you? You're the leader, aren't you? I think I should know what you're good at," Wes says. I shrug.

"I'm agile, a good swimmer, and uh… stronger than most girls that are my age and size," I explain, picking my words carefully. I'm still not ready to tell my allies or anyone else that I'm stronger than most people in general.

Wes seems good enough with my answer, because he shakes my hand and says, "Allies." I smile and nod, and we both stand up and walk over to Emma and Anna, who were just about to come over to us.

"Guys," I say. "Meet our new ally."

They stare at him with slight fear but they shake hands with him anyways.

. . .

I stumble and nearly trip over my own feet, banging into the wall. I'm drenched from head to toe in sweat and I feel like passing out – the same goes for my allies, as we've been training for the past hour. And I learned something new; I suck with most weapons! Fun.

Wes tells us he doesn't want to be like the wimpy kids from District 10 and 11 who just sit down and refuse to train, so he says that if we want a break, we should just go to a station that requires less exercise, like the net-tying station. I'm not really fond of the idea – one, it's _net-tying_, and that's like, the most boring strength you could have. Two, it's a really District 4-related station, and Kekai walk up at any time. But I agree with Wes anyways, too exhausted to argue. We sit down at the station, and seeing as we're the only ones there, we decide to have a friendly conversation while we get started on tying our own nets. Wes tells us about how he has a rich family that has enough money to buy weapons for him to train with, and that he's also on Broadway and is friends with this kid named Blaine, who is part of something at his high school called the "Glee cast". Emma tells him that there's a Glee cast in District 8, too, and they both start fangirling (and fanboying, I guess), while Anna and I start talking about how one of our main interests is music. That's when the three of them decide that they're starving. "We're gonna go to the snack bar and see if there's anything we want," Emma tells me, as she rises to her feet. "You coming?"

"Nah, I'll stay here," I say. "I'm not that hungry."

"Suit yourself." She promises me she'll be right back and they walk off, leaving me alone at the station. I keep tying a few knots, when I hear someone walk over. I glance up from my net and almost immediately put my head back down, because the one person that just so happened to arrive was Kekai.

"What's the matter with you?" he demands. I don't reply. He takes a deep breath. "Why do you seem so scared of me all of a sudden? Ever since you stormed off when we were at the fire-making station, you've been acting weird." Again, I don't reply. Frustrated, he grabs a rock from the snare-building station and throws it at my head. It whizzes right past my ear and lands with a _thud _on the ground behind me. He lets out a forced laugh, but I ignore him.

"I just bullied you," he says quietly. "Why aren't you attacking me like you did that last time?"

_Because I can't hurt you_, I want to say, though I know that would sound a little odd, so I keep my mouth shut. After several moments, he sits down next to me.

"Look, Julia," he starts. A shiver runs up my spine when he says my name. "I'm sorry for bullying you before. Just… tell me what's going on, and I'll tell you why I tried to poke fun at you."

I steal a glance at him. His golden eyes seem so full of concern and kindness… and it confuses me. Sighing, I stand up, and look away from him again.

"It's… complicated," I say with a sigh.

"I can help," Kekai assures me. "Just tell me what's wrong."

"I shouldn't," I whisper, only loud enough for him to hear. "And… you'd think I'm crazy, anyways." Before he can ask why, I quickly walk off. Since training is about to end anyways, I don't wait to say goodbye to my allies as I rush into a nearby elevator. The large metal doors shut behind me, and I lean against the wall, breathing in deeply.

Kekai… will I _ever _be able to confront him?


	7. Maybe Third Time's a Charm

**Colin's POV**

I wake up at a quarter to midnight, and even though I'm half-expecting sunshine to flood through my bedroom window instead of moonlight, I know why I woke up at this time. I sit up and reach over the right side of my bed, grabbing a white envelope and pulling it off of my wooden dresser. I stand up from the bed, stretching and flicking on the light switch as I remove the Mockingjay seal from the envelope and reread what had been written. I still have no idea why the District 5 mentor wanted to speak with me, but I'm going to go down to the training center anyways, just because I'm curious. I put the seal back on and slip the envelope into my pocket before pushing my bedroom door open, wincing at the loud creaking sound it makes. I freeze for a few moments, worried that my dad might have heard me. When the atmosphere goes still and quiet once more, I continue creeping towards the front door and slowly turn the knob. I place my hand on it with a little too much force and it swings open, causing yet another extremely loud squeaking noise to fill the air. I softly push the door shut before glancing at the tribute apartments that have been built across from my home; where the tributes stay and where they practice for the Games in a training center built specifically for them – also the place where Jade wanted to meet me.

Not many people are out and about at this time, so I can easily cross the street without having to wait up on any zooming cars or be afraid that anyone else will see me and ask me what I'm doing and why I'm out here at this time. Yes, even though I'm the Head Gamemaker's son, curfew is still required for me and I'm not allowed to leave my house after ten p.m. Oh well. I run up to the tribute apartments and open the door, glad to see that it's unlocked and I can easily step inside. However, standing on either side of the long corridor that extends in front of me are two Peacekeepers, who notice my outline in the dark immediately and raise their guns. "Stop right there."

I slowly advance on them, and when they realize who I am and that I'm the son of the Head Gamemaker, they lower their guns and dip their heads with so much respect I feel as if I'm the president of Panem or something. "We – we apologize, sir," the Peacekeeper on the right side of the hallway says. "We didn't realize it was you."

"Can I come through?" I ask impatiently. I don't have much time left until midnight.

"Well, of course, sir," the Peacekeeper on the left side says. "But if I might ask, what are you doing here at such a late hour?"

"No questions," I say strictly, raising a hand in the air. They nod obediently and I make my way down the hallway, glancing at each door on either of my sides to see which one leads to the training center. _District 1 apartment_, _Bathrooms_, _District 2 apartment_, _Training Center_, _District 3 apartment_ – I stop walking and take a step back. Ah, here we go. I stop for a minute and look back at the Peacekeepers at the end of the hallway, whose backs are turned to me. They're conversing with each other and I don't think they notice me. What if they saw me enter the training center and asked me why? I take a deep breath. Nonsense, Colin – you're the Head Gamemaker's son. Why would they question you? Okay, I know that sounds a bit cocky, but still. They respect me and treat me like royalty. I don't really get why, but I guess it can sometimes come in handy.

I open the tall, heavy metal door and step inside the large, spacious room. The door slams itself shut behind me. The training center is dark, and shadows fill each corner. The weapons placed delicately on the racks glint dangerously, adding to the eerie look of this room. I don't see anyone, and suddenly, I'm a bit freaked out and intimidated by the threatening weapons and objects I see everywhere I turn. I've never been in here before, mainly because there has been no reason to. I now understand another reason why most of the tributes from the outer districts don't like the Games at all. Just _glancing _at a sheathed sword or a knife makes me think of a long, curved silver blade stained with the crimson blood of another human. Sighing and running a hand through my short brown hair, I call out, "Jade, are you there?" My voice echoes off the walls of the training center. What if she didn't come? What if I'm going to be alone in this room, all night, waiting for her? I take a deep breath and ask again. "Jade?"

"_Man_," a feminine voice says exasperatedly. I turn my head and see a woman about twenty years old step out of the shadows. I have no idea where she came from, but I know who she is and I'm glad she's here. "I'm right here," she assures me, rolling her big green eyes. She's short and thin enough to look like a teenager despite her age, and she sure does act like one, too.

"I was just – ah – worried," I stutter, mentally facepalming for sounding so much like an idiot. "I mean – um – worried that you weren't going to show up."

"You make it sound like you were afraid I was going to blow off our date or something," Jade says with a laugh. This makes me blush, and I decide to cut straight to the chase.

"Why did you send me that letter?" I demand. "Why am I here? You obviously have something _very _important to tell me. I'm the Head Gamemaker's son, and if this is some kind of joke, I will most certainly have you –"

"Relax, _sir_," Jade sneers, mocking my title. "This isn't a joke. I don't even know you. But I know that you are most definitely not a fan of the Hunger Games, so therefore, this is important to you."

"How did you know that I wasn't a fan of them?" I ask nervously. Is it obvious? My dad doesn't know, does he?

"Don't worry, your dad doesn't know," Jade tells me, as if she's reading my mind. "You have a friend named Gareth, no?"

"A classmate," I correct her. I don't really have 'friends', being the Head Gamemaker's son and all. But Gareth and I are often paired up together for projects and we sit together at lunch during school, and I suppose we tolerate each other. "How does he know that I'm not a fan of the Hunger Games?"

"You must've slipped a hint once," Jade says with a shrug. "I don't know. But anyways, we don't have much time. I need to tell you as much as possible about why I brought you here."

I remain silent, giving her the invitation to speak. She sighs and begins.

"I'm sure you know about the Dark Days, Colin. Long ago, over two hundred years, the thirteen districts rebelled against the Capitol. Thousands of lives were lost, District 13 destroyed, children orphaned, wives widowed – and eventually, the Capitol won. Blah blah blah. The Capitol created an event called the Hunger Games where two tributes from each district would be reaped to compete and fight to the death – yeah. Everyone knows about this.

"Then, 75 years later, came the Mockingjay Rebellion, led by Katniss Everdeen, a Victor from District 12. She rediscovered District 13 and was able to get most of the districts to help her try to take over the Capitol. It was thought that they won for about twenty years when President Coriolanus Snow's nephew rebuilt the Capitol and executed Katniss in front of the nation, along with the people who had rebelled alongside her."

"Why are you telling me this, Jade?" I interrupt. I have a sick feeling about why she wants to talk to me, but I don't say it just yet. I'm too afraid of the idea. "Why are you reminding me about the two rebellions?"

"Because these Games are _terrible_," Jade says, her voice raised. That's when I see the dark bags under her eyes for the first time and how sickly pale her skin looks. There's a reason she looks more like a sixteen year old than a twenty year old – she's _so _skinny. But not only does she look damaged on the outside; I can tell by how faded her eyes look that she's been damaged on the inside, too. "Did you watch my Games, Colin?"

I nod slowly.

"Do you remember what happened in them?"

I try to recall Jade's Games. She was fifteen when she won, so that was only five years ago, so it doesn't take me too long to remember. I take a deep breath when I realize _why _she's so hurt and broken. "Your best friend volunteered to protect you. You were the last two tributes, and… he committed suicide to let you win."

Jade winces. "Exactly." She throws her hands up in the air with defeat. "I don't know, Colin. This is crazy. I'm insane. But we have to give it a shot."

"Give _what _a shot? You still haven't directly stated why I'm here, Jade."

"I think you know." Jade takes a step forward so that her deep emerald glare is just inches away from my face. "So many kids are dying out there. Dying! Killed by other kids who just do it because they don't know what else there _is _to do. These kids have been shaping our country into what it is now, and the president just wants to throw a bunch of them away each year? We're about to lose another 23 of those kids, Colin. We can stop it!"

"How?"

Jade smiles a little. She sees the top of the envelope sticking out of my pocket and she pulls it out, holding it up so that the front of it is facing towards me. She places the tip of her finger on the Mockingjay seal, and instantly, I understand.

"You want a…?"

"Don't say it," Jade says. "Not yet." She hands me the envelope and I slip it back into my pocket.

"Why should I keep this?" I ask.

"To help you remember this night," she tells me quietly. "I need you to think about this. I'm not forcing you to help me, but I really wish you would."

"I… I don't know. I'm the Head Gamemaker's son, remember."

"Blood doesn't mean anything here," she says darkly. "Just spirit. And you definitely do not have your father's spirit."

"So…" I sigh, rubbing my temples as I try to process this. "You just want me to think about this?"

"Mhm."

"When should I tell you what I decide?"

"If you decide _not _to," Jade says. "Then don't bother speaking with me ever again. But I will send you a letter reminding you, and if you agree to do this, and then simply write back. I'll get it, don't worry. Now, I have to leave."

"Why?"

"I just do." Jade turns and heads for the door, but I manage to get out one more question.

"Why a third time?" I call. "So many people died before."

Jade just smiles and winks. "Well, maybe third time's a charm, you know?" And just like that, she's gone. I lean against one of the fake trees, and pull out the envelope again, staring at the shimmering golden Mockingjay seal.

I know why Jade was telling me all of those things, even though she never said the word. It's an amazing idea; save the lives of at least some of the tributes in this year's Games, even though I don't know how she plans on doing so.

Though the reason I have to decide whether I'll do it with or not is because I don't know if I'm brave enough to.

**Muahaha! I didn't directly tell you why Jade wanted to talk to Colin… but um… I know you guys aren't stupid and you probably figured it out. But if you know what it is, don't review it or say it on chat or anything, okay? Just keep it in your brains until you actually find out what it is. Thanks :3**


	8. Training Day Two Part One

An arrow whizzes through the air, landing smack dab in the middle of a bright red bullseye. Anna turns around and smiles at me, before loading another arrow into her heavy silver bow. "That's how it's done," she says. She hands the weapon to me. "Would you like to give it a shot?"

Well, quite frankly, I don't. I tried the bow and arrow station earlier today and failed miserably, but Anna had said she could teach me, so I decided, why not? I might make a fool of myself, but it's not like I haven't done enough of that already, right?

I take the bow from her and aim for my target, the same bullseye that Anna's arrow had just landed in. Sighing, I release the arrow and it flies completely away from where I was aiming. It lands by Wes' feet, who freezes for a moment before turning around and grinning at me. "Sheesh, watch out next time, Julia. You could've sliced my feet right off," he jokes. He pulls the arrow out of the ground and throws it back at me. I catch it and hand it to Anna. "Yeah, this _probably _isn't going to work out," I say, clapping her on the shoulder. "Bow and arrows just isn't my thing. I'll stick with throwing axes and punching and kicking, alright?"

Anna laughs. "Sure. I'm going to stay here and practice some more. I'll see you at lunch," she says, before returning to her training. I hurry over to Wes, and he takes my hand, bringing it upwards towards his lips and placing a kiss on it. I roll my eyes. "Since when did you become such a gentleman?" I remark.

"I honestly have no idea," Wes says with a shrug. "I don't even like you." He winks at me, and I roll my eyes again. Sometimes I don't understand Wes, or any of my allies for that matter. But I guess that's the fun in being with them, right? "Anyways, what do you want to do? I'm sure there are plenty of stations you haven't been to yet."

"Most of them I suck at, anyways," I tell him. "I can't use a bow and arrow… I'm not particularly good with camouflage… I can't climb…"

"But that's not your fault," he replies. "You're just afraid of heights."

"Whatever. Emma's probably at the fake trees, anyways. Let's go look for her."

"Sure." We both run off to the climbing station, where we instantly see our ally from District 8, swinging by the highest branch on one of the fake trees. It's almost as if she doesn't care that she's about twenty feet off the ground, rocking back and forth with only one hand gripping onto a plastic brown branch. She sees us and glances down, smiling. "Oh! Hey guys!" She climbs downwards a bit before jumping and landing softly on both feet before walking over to us. "Where's Anna?"

"She's off doing her own thing," I say. I nod towards Wes, who is thankfully still standing next to me. From the short time I've known him, I've learned he has a habit of wondering off when he sees something interesting. "Wes and I were wondering if you could, ah… teach us how to climb. If that's possible."

"'Course that's possible," Emma replies, grinning toothily. She grabs Wes by his arm and pulls him over to one of the trees. "Look for the highest branch that you can easily reach and grab onto it." Wes extends his arm upwards and latches his fingers onto a branch. "Now, pull yourself up and place your feet on the branches lowest to the ground." Wes does exactly as she says, and wildly swings back and forth for a few seconds before he sets the soles of his boots down on two solid branches. "Now, grab onto the next branch." She claps her hands together. "You got this, Wes! I have complete faith in you!"

Wes groans in annoyance. "Shut up," he mumbles. He tries to grab onto the next branch above his head, but his foot slips below and he loses his balance and plummets eight feet towards the earth. He lands with a soft _thud _and quickly gets up, before turning to look at me. "Well, I guess you're not alone anymore, girl," he says grumpily. I giggle, and although I'm pretty sure this is a cruel thought, I'm happy I'm not the only tribute that doesn't know how to climb.

"You wanna try?" Emma asks. I laugh and shake my head.

"Uh, no thanks." I'm worried I'm going to get as high as I possibly can and then fall and break my neck. Then again, that's just my acrophobia speaking. Maybe I should try it out? I'm not sure. But I don't have that much time to think about it, because suddenly, I hear shouts drawing closer to the area that I'm standing in. I spin around, eyes widening when I see a boy around 15 with dark blonde hair running, a panicked expression on his face – and the Career Pack is angrily storming after him. Oh god, more drama? I glance around worriedly. Dani is at the front of the pack, and if she saw me in her way then I'm guessing she would beat me to a pulp, and I don't exactly want that to happen. I hide behind the cluster of fake trees, Wes and Emma hurrying after me. I peek around the side of one of the trunks to watch a loud argument unfold.

"Oh, don't you d_are _try to run away from me!" Dani growls. She grabs the blonde-haired tribute by the collar of his shirt and drags him back towards her. I catch a glimpse of the boy's face, and I think I recognize him. His name appears on the tip of my tongue. As if reading my mind, Emma leans over and whispers in my ear, "That's JJ." I look over my shoulder at her, and I can tell she clearly feels sorry for this strange tribute. "My district partner."

My eyes return to the scene, where JJ is begging Dani not to harm him. I wonder what he did that angered her so greatly.

"Look here, boy," Dani hisses, getting up in JJ's face. "I've seen you the last two days in training. You're an awesome tribute, I'll give you that. But you're too weak. You don't have what it takes to kill. And plus, you bumped into me and messed up my aim when I was trying to throw a dagger!"

"I-I'm sorry," JJ stammers, trying his best to keep an emotionless expression. He straightens his shoulders and the two tributes' gazes lock. I admire his courage; not many people have what it takes to stand up to Dani, who's now pretty much become the queen of this training center. A smirk stretches across Dani's pale face.

"Look at you. So a_dorable _how you try to make yourself seem not afraid of me," she purrs. She locks her fingers around his arm and twists it behind his back. "I think you know this game, JJ. When you can't take the pain any longer, say _mercy_."

"Dani, stop," I hear someone say. The room goes dead quiet. Everyone who had been watching the scene, including the rest of the Careers, turn to stare at the tribute who uttered those dangerous those words. If you tell Dani to or try to make her stop something, the consequences are severe. I speak from experience.

Dani releases JJ and he staggers backwards, his arm red from the girl from District 2 twisting it around his back. She pushes through Vinny, Oli, Kiersten, and Kekai, and comes to a stop at Kekai's district partner – Liza.

"What did you say to me?" she inquires.

"I said, _stop_," Liza repeats, her voice plain. "JJ didn't do _anything_ to you. He just happened to accidentally bump into you while you were trying to throw a dagger, that's all. It's not a big deal, so just calm down."

"Don't talk to me like that," Dani hisses. "You'll regret it."

"I'll regret trying my best to put you in your place so that you don't bother any of the harmless, innocent tributes in this training center?"

"Liza, stop. I'm warning you."

"I'm not going to stop." The brunette narrows her eyes and folds her arms across her chest. "_You're_ the one that needs to stop."

"Just _shut_. _Up_," Dani says, adding dramatization to her words by having an exaggerated sigh following them. "It's my job to find out what tributes deserve to be killed by me in the bloodbath, not yours. I'm making this easy for you by letting you sit back and watch."

"Oh, so that's what this is about?!" Liza advances towards Dani, her eyes full of hatred. "Why don't you just kill whoever you come across during the bloodbath? Huh? That seems to be what you're good at, anyways. Or do you just like picking favorites? Well, in that case-" She roughly brings her fist towards Dani's face, who dodges at the last second.

"What the hell, Liza?" she screams. "Do you want to get killed?"

"Exactly," Liza says softly. "If someone tries to harm you in any way, you decide you want to kill them in the bloodbath."

Dani blinks. "Uh.."

"Would you really kill _me_, Dani? Your own ally?"

Busted.

"Well… I could," Dani responds, arching her back as she tries to look tough. "Now, get away from me, Liza. I'm done with you for now." She glares at the girl from four so fiercely that she backs up, but the spark of hatred in Liza's eyes never leaves. It's as if this was just the first battle of a long rivalry for the two. Dani turns back to JJ, and this time, with Vinny and Oli holding tight onto Liza's arms to keep her settled, there's nothing she can do as the girl from two raises her first.

But there's something _I _can do.

Wes and Emma seem to know what I'm thinking about, and they start muttering that I shouldn't do it and I would be such an idiot if I did, but I do anyway. I run out there and kick Dani in the back of the leg so hard that she stumbles forwards two yards before crashing against the floor, and she lays there for several moments before standing up.

"Julia," she growls. "I advise that you get away before I decide that I would rather have a Peacekeeper hold a gun to my head than be tossed around like a piece of trash like you any longer."

I ignore her and walk over to JJ, who is staring at me with such fear that once again I feel like a monster. I put my hand on his shoulder and sigh softly. "I'm sorry," I say. "But hopefully she won't bother you again."

When I look at him again, I see that his eyes are not filled with fear, but with surprise that I had the ability to do such a thing. Then, he gives me a hug before silently thanking me and hurrying away. Wes and Emma creep out from behind the fake trees and run over to me, and we try to get as far away from Dani as we can.

"How did you do that?" Emma breathes. "You just kicked her… and she literally flew six feet…"

"That's unbelievable strength," Wes adds. "I might be a wonderful swordsman but I'm not sure if I'm as strong as you are."

"I… I don't even know myself," I say quietly, taking a deep breath and running a hand through my hair. "I just… need a moment."

My two allies nod and leave me alone for a few minutes. I sit down on one of the benches and put my head in my hands.

"Hey, you."

I look up, somehow not surprised when I see Liza staring back at me. "Yeah?" I mumble, not exactly in the mood to have a conversation with a Career.

"What you did out there was… really surprising," she says. "I mean, to Dani. And I thought I was brave enough just to talk back to her…"

"You were," I say. "I might be brave enough to physically attack her but… I'm not the best at standing up for myself."

Liza nods slowly and takes a seat next to me on the bench. We sit there a bit awkwardly in silence for a moment, before she speaks up. "Sometimes I ask myself why I'm with them."

"Who?"

"The Careers. I mean, I guess it's just because I'm from District four, and I feel like I _need _to be with them. But… I just can't stand them. Kiersten is really the only one I like, but she's really quiet and is too much of a slave to Dani. Don't even get me started on _her_, because I'm sure you know what our relationship is like… Oli is kind of a bitch, and Vinny is too demanding…"

"What about Kekai?" I blurt. I'm not sure where that came from.

"Kekai? Oh, my district partner… I don't know him very well. He's mysterious, I guess."

"Liza!" Someone calls. Vinny. "Liza, where are you? Don't you wanna come for a quick swim?"

I'm pretty sure I can hear Liza mutter under her breath "I don't really have a choice, do I?" She takes one last good look at me. "Be careful, Julia. I don't think you know entirely what you're up against just yet." With that, she stands up and hurries away. "Shut up, Vinny! I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Once she disappears, I lean back and stare up at the ceiling. I knew Kekai was mysterious from the start, and that I would probably never be able to figure him out, especially after I learned that he was the boy with the fire-colored eyes… but now, there's someone else in this training center that's extremely hard to read.

The girl from District four.


	9. Training Day Two Part Two

**Since the last couple weeks of the school year for me are going to be extremely busy, it might take me a while to update. Normally, I would update at least once a week, but that simply can't happen until summer break arrives. Therefore, this may or may not be the last chapter you get for two or so weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience! **

"Remind me why you guys are making me do this again?" I question, as Anna ties a red fabric belt around my waist. Several tributes have gathered around us, looking very impatient and excited for something that's about to happen.

"I told your allies how you nearly killed me on the train ride here," Erlend responds. I forgot why I let him tag along with my allies and I for the last hour of training.

"And why exactly did you do that?" I ask.

"Because the amount of physical strength that you harness can really save your ass in the Games," he tells me, as if it's the simplest thing in the world. "Once they see how strong you are, they'll consider you a better ally."

"I already thought she was the _best _ally," Emma assures me with a grin. I ignore her.

"Who do you want me fighting, anyways?" I inquire. Erlend grabs my hand and pulls me over to a sickeningly familiar group of tributes. The leader of the Careers, Vinny Swift, turns to look at me, and a charming grin spreads across his tanned face, one that would have most girls on their knees in an instant. But not me. I remain standing straight, my arms folded neatly across my chest and my gray gaze cold and filled with disgust.

"Oh, hello," Vinny greets politely, bowing his head respectfully. I pay him no mind, and glance at Erlend, asking him once again who he wants me to fight.

"One of the Careers," Erlend whispers, as if that's some big secret. I've fought the Careers before. Well, at least one of them, and that was the girl from 2, Dani. I've fought her several times, and to be honest, she has great physical strength as well as I do. I don't see why Erlend would want me to take her on martial arts-style in front of the training center. At least, I think that's what he wants me to do. I'm wearing a straight up karate suit, anyways.

"Why?" I whisper back.

"Because you can," Erlend responds simply. Of course he would say something like that. "Just choose someone to fight. Prove to them that you're better than them, which is why you aren't joining their alliance."

I suppose he has a good point. Sort of. I scan the Careers, trying to decide which one I should "challenge". I've fought with Dani too much already, and even when I glance at her for a single second, she glares at me with such hatred that I feel just a tiny bit threatened. Liza and Kekai are the two tributes that I definitely _won't_ fight; they're the Careers that I actually like, for several reasons I'm not even sure about. And then there's Kiersten, who is too nice to attack in my opinion. That narrows it down to Vinny and Oli.

"Vinny or Oli?" I ask Erlend.

"I would say Oli," he replies. "You haven't interacted with him much yet."

I shrug. "Okay." I point to the male from two, motioning for him to come forwards. He walks up to me with a bored expression on his face. "Uh, yeah?"

"You wanna… uh, fight?" I ask stupidly. Oli glances at me with a little confusion in his eyes.

"…Why?"

"To see if I really _should _join the Careers or not."

Vinny hears this, and he runs over, who smiles at me before clapping Oli on the shoulder. "So does that mean if you win, you join us, Julia?"

"No," I say, "If I win, it means that one of the supposedly best Careers actually sucks and you guys aren't worthy enough to be my allies."

"Ooh, feisty," I hear Erlend say. I look at him and roll my eyes.

"Oh." Vinny pats Oli on the back. "Well, in that case, you kick her ass, bud!" He walks back to the rest of the Careers, his gaze never leaving us. I turn to Oli.

"So," Oli begins, while grabbing a nearby sword. "What weapon are you going to use?"

"Have you even seen my retarded outfit, Oliver?" I gesture to the karate-style suit Erlend made me put on over my training outfit. "This is a martial arts fight… battle… thing," I say. "Fists and feet only."

"Very well." Oli throws the sword down and doesn't even hesitate before lunging at me. His hands lock onto my shoulders and he kicks me in the shin, although I barely feel a thing. I pry my shoulders away from him before crouching lower to the ground and elbowing him roughly in the knee. He takes a step backwards, stopping for a quick breath, then running up to me once more. This time, the moment he leaps into the air I dodge to the side, and he crashes onto the floor. I bend down next to him and start repeatedly hitting him on his shoulder blades, making sure I do it hard enough to the point where he might surrender but also making sure I don't do it hard enough to make him bleed.

"Okay, stop," Oli begs. Smiling triumphantly, I rise to my feet, and in that instant, Oli jumps back up and his hands fly to my throat. "Oh, so you're really going to choke me to death during _training_?" I ask.

"No." Oli removes his hands and I punch him in the stomach with a little too much force. He collapses to the floor, sighing and leaning back. "You win," he says. He pulls up his shirt a little, and I gasp when I see the small amount of blood smeared along his stomach.

"Woah," I whisper. "I'm sorry, Oli, I didn't mean to-"

"Wait!" Vinny interrupts. He runs up to us. "You can still join the Careers if you fight another one of us and lose, right? You've lost a fight to Dani before, you can fight her again!"

"Uhm, no," I say. "I'll fight somebody else, just… not her."

"Then what about me?" Vinny asks after a few seconds. "I'll fight you. I'm strong. Look." He punches me in the shoulder.

"Ow!" I yelp.

"See? I'm strong." He kicks me, and yeah, it hurts. Usually, when someone attacks me using their hands or feet, it doesn't really put me in pain, but Vinny is actually stronger than most people. At least that proves that I'm not a muttation that doesn't feel certain types of pain or anything.

"Yeah, you're strong," I agree. "Fine. I'll fight you." I slap him in the face, and that's how my second fight of the day begins.

Vinny barely looks fazed as my hand comes in contact with his face. He simply kicks me in the side before punching me in the chest nearly at the same time. He tries to bring his fist to the side of my head, but I'm able to avoid the blow, and I put enough force into my leg to be able to kick him to the ground. He immediately scrambles back up to his feet and pushes me up against a wall. He hits me a few times on the face, and the only way I am able to get away from him is by headbutting him and quickly darting out of the way during those couple of seconds that he is a tad distracted. He runs up to me and literally kicks me in the ass. I topple over and roll over onto my back. I try to prop myself up on my shoulders when Vinny places his foot on my chest. He catches his breath before saying, "Are we good?"

"How about no?" I reply, wrapping my arms around his leg and yanking it forwards, causing him to lose his balance and slam onto the floor. At this point, the battle has gotten popular enough for the Peacekeepers to notice it, and they're rushing towards us. I make the mistake of looking at them for a few moments, and Vinny gently grabs my throat in one hand and balls up a fist in the other, putting it just several inches away from my face. "I'll ask again," he says coolly, "are we good?"

"Whatever. Sure." Vinny lets go of my throat and grins happily. "Great! So that means you're one of us now?"

I roll my eyes. Now back to the same old cheerful Vinicius Swift. "Yeah, I'm a Career." A lump forms in my throat after I say those words, but Vinny seems convinced. I guess you could say I'm an okay actress.

"Awesome!" Vinny shakes my hand. "Training is almost over, so there won't be much time for you to practice with us, but you're perfect Career material, anyways. I'll see you later!" With that, he runs off, and my allies take his place, staring at me with utter disbelief. Wes looks angry, while Anna appears devastated and Emma is trying not to look at me. I don't even know where Erlend went. "What the hell, Julia? Why did you agree to join him?" Wes demands. "Even though you lost to him, you could've said, 'Oh, Vinny, you don't control my life, I don't have to join your stupid alliance'!"

"Calm your tits, Wes," I say. "I let him win, and I'm just letting him _think _that I'm a Career. I partially did that so he would quit bugging me about joining him."

"And what's the other reason?"

I look around at the tributes that are still gathered around us. I grab Wes by the arm and drag him away from them, and Anna and Emma follow us uncertainly.

"I have a strategy," I say.

"Which is?"

"Let me tell you," I hiss. "You impatient bitch. Look, since I'm technically a Career, the others won't try to attack and kill me when I'm running towards the Cornucopia. I'll grab a few things and meet up with you, and that's when they'll realize that I was lying about being a Career the whole time – but by that point, we'll hopefully already be a safe distance away from the bloodbath. Okay?"

Wes purses his lips and nods. "Okay."

"Now, let's go look for something to do," I suggest. "There are fifteen minutes of training left and _you guys _have barely done anything." We start wandering around the training center together, and my allies start to turn into their real selves again, knowing that becoming a Career was all just an act. This is the first time we've done anything as a group since the group actually formed, and it's good to be hanging out with them. Emma is extremely hyper, which (although slightly annoying) is actually very entertaining, Wes is truthfully a really funny guy, and Anna is so nice, thoughtful, and smart – and when I'm around them, I actually forget that I'm probably going to be sent off to my death in a few days. They're my friends. I know yesterday I told them that they were only allies, not friends… but I take that back. These guys _are _my friends, as much as they are my allies, and I know this will hurt me when I watch some of them die in the Games, but that doesn't matter at the moment. Because right now, we're just a group of weirdos, having a little fun before the real stuff begins.

Wow. Damn, when did I get so soft?

My thoughts are interrupted when my allies and I run into the girl from 3 (whose name I haven't learned yet). She's Asian, and has medium length dark brown hair and eyes, and a panicked look on her face. "Hey!" I say.

"Oh, hi," the girl grumbles. She obviously doesn't seem very happy. "You're, uh, Julie or something, right?"

"Julia," I correct. "And you are…?"

"Annie," she says. "Annie Tveit, District 3."

"Annie!" someone calls. "Oh Annie, where are you?"

"Who was that?" Anna asks.

"My district partner," Annie says, rolling her eyes. As if on cue, a male around 15 with black hair and brown eyes pops out of nowhere. He takes a handful of Annie's hair and sniffs it.

"Smells like pineapple," he comments stupidly.

"Shut up, Justin!" Annie yells. She pulls her hair out of his hand. "And the shampoo I used this morning supposedly smelled like oranges, not pineapple."

"It still smells like pineapple."

"Leave me alone!"

Justin ignores her and pokes her cheek. Annie hisses like a cat and elbows him in the face.

"That hurt," Justin whines.

"Good," Annie snaps. "Now go away."

"Alright, fine!" Justin slams his foot defiantly against the ground like a little kid, before walking away. Annie sighs and looks at us. "Sorry about that. He's a bit… strange."

"He reminds me of my district partner," I say. "His name is Erlend. He started flirting with me the day he saw me on the train ride here."

"Okay," Annie replies. "But I've actually known Justin for a while. He was my classmate back in District 3, and he's had a crush on me for a while."

"Do you like him back?" Emma asks.

"Hell no!" Annie crosses her arms. "He's _so _annoying, I swear. But for some reason, everybody thinks we would be the perfect couple. One of my friends back home even made a ship for us."

"A ship?" I ask slowly.

"A relationship," Annie explains. "Like, a relationship that someone wishes would happen. My friend calls it Jannie. Half of District 3 supports it."

Justin runs back over at the mention of their "ship". "We only have a few minutes left of training," he says. "You wanna spend it together?"

"I've had enough of you," Annie says simply.

"Very well." Justin kisses Annie's cheek before running away again. That's when Emma and Anna start giggling uncontrollably.

"He's so sweet!" Emma cooes. "I totally ship Jannie."

"Me too," Anna agrees.

"Me three," says Wes.

"I don't," I say. "Annie obviously doesn't like him. Give her a break."

"Thanks, Julie," Annie says.

"Julia."

"Right."

That's when the bell rings (I have no idea when or why they added a bell, but it reminds me of the one they used back at my school in District 5), which signals the end of training for that day. Annie waves to us and walks off, while my allies and I join several other tributes in a nearby elevator.

"So," Emma says. "Private training sessions are tomorrow."

"I know," I groan, absolutely dreading it. I didn't do well at most of the stations during training, so I'm a bit worried. If I get a low score, I'll probably be kicked out of the Careers, which will ruin the plan that I had.

I see Kekai in the middle of the crowd of tributes cramped together in the elevator. He meets my gaze and comes over to me. When Emma sees him also, she winks at me before turning to Wes and Anna, leaving me alone with the odd boy from four.

"Hey," he greets me with a smile. I don't respond. I just look into his eyes – those bright, fire-colored eyes. And somehow, I feel calm. Maybe I'm still a bit worried about the private sessions tomorrow, but whenever I think of Kekai and his golden eyes, I feel like nothing could possibly go wrong.

Tomorrow is when I'll find that out for sure.


End file.
